full of smiles =)

Took this video on Monday afternoon. He's such an adorable, sweet, and happy baby boy. Love him so much!

3 months!

don't know exact measurements, but:
-at least 25 in.
-just over 16 lbs

He:
-has rolled over from tummy to back twice

-is sleeping 11-12 hours straight at night... we're so lucky and blessed

-is talking, squealing, making lots of noises

-has discovered his hands and loves sucking on them when balled in fists

-is enjoying his swing finally and naps in it occasionally
-has the biggest, cutest smile... just such a happy baby
-grabs toys put into his hands
-still working on a nap schedule
-still spitting up during the day
-loves to be held and talked to
-holds his head steady and up
-walks his feet when held in the standing position
-starting to be able to sit up with assistance

We're so in love with our sweet baby boy. Each day is a true blessing.

2 months!

15 lbs 1 oz (95th percentile)

24.5 in long (95th percentile)

head: 41cm (75th percentile)

LOVE our big & healthy boy!

At 2 months, he:
-smiles, coos, "talks", and laughs
-flails his arms & kicks his legs around like crazy
-can push his upper body up all the way when on his tummy (like a push up)
-finally taking a paci (MAM brand)
-absolutely LOVES bath time... will get a video of that soon!
-goes to bed between 6-7pm & sleeps 5-7 hours & then 3 hour stretches after that til 6-7am (hopefully it still stays close to this with the cross country move)
-is perfectly healthy in every way
-has a tough grasp
-follows us and objects
-loves being talked & sung to

cute video I took today (sorry it's kinda dark):

Our Sweet Blessing: Joshua Austin

Welcome to our world, Joshua Austin Lane. He was born October 2nd at 9:02am, weighing 8 lbs 12 oz & 21.5 inches long! He is our pride and joy, and we couldn't be happier. We truly feel blessed by our sweet Lord for this wonderful addition to our lives. We are truly enjoying and loving being a family of 3 now. It has taken a lot of adjustment and loss of sleep to get through the days, but we wouldn't change a thing. He is quite the little observer and has been since he was born. The first 10 minutes I held him after he was born, all he did was just look around the delivery room (normally with just one eye open because it was so bright from the dark world he was used to inside me lol). He makes the most adorable faces, and though he hates the hiccups, it's so cute when he has them. He has blue eyes, and we're thinking they will stay blue. He had to get over a little jaundice at first, but luckily, he got over it on his own without having to do any real intervention. He loves to eat, and by his 2 week appointment he already weighed 9 lbs 11 oz. He will sleep for 3 hours at night normally (sometimes we get lucky and get 4 hours). He's a pretty good baby and loves to play. He loves going on walks and car rides. He can lift his head very well but can't support it yet. Cute little bobble head. haha. We left him with a babysitter for the first time on October 22nd (with the lady I used to nanny for) so Daniel & I could attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. We had a lot of fun, but missed him like crazy. She said he did just fine, though. We took him to the pumpkin patch this past Saturday. He slept most of the time, but we still got some good pictures. I can't wait to dress him up for Halloween next year. PS- Daniel is such a great Daddy. I couldn't ask for a better supportive husband & father for our son.

It's hard to believe he will be a month old already tomorrow. SO in love with our little man.

In other news, we will be moving to Virginia the first weekend of December. We are sad to move away from the great state of Texas but excited about this next chapter of our lives: the military life. We are hitting the road  the morning of Saturday, December 4th & hope to be at our new townhouse in Virginia by Monday afternoon. I'm already praying about taking a 2 month old (at the time) on this long road journey that everything goes smoothly. My father-in-law will be driving our moving truck, and Daniel will drive our Jeep so that I can tend to Joshua as needed. Daniel has been working at the local recruiting office until we move and is loving it. He is leading the PT program, and with as much as Daniel loves to PT, he really enjoys getting these guys (as well as himself) into shape. I love him working this job because it is a lot less hours and he is a lot more accessible if I need him. 

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. Things get crazy with a newborn around. Hopefully, I will get better as we become more adapted. If I fail to blog in the next month or so, it probably has to do with the move. I'll apologize in advance- SO SORRY!

Love y'all & God bless!

Even More Changes

Blah, I'm still not doing better about blogging. I'm not working anymore, so I really have no excuse. I will get better! lol. My last day of work was August 19th, and it was such a bitter sweet feeling. I love those kids and miss them greatly already. They are the sweetest and most fun and adorable kids ever, and I will miss playing with them and watching them grow. Don't get me wrong though, because I'm enjoying this time at home being able to clean the house, do laundry, relax and just prepare for the arrival of our son. I'm able to listen to my body more and take a nap whenever I feel like it. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow and just a month & a week away from my due date (Oct. 9th). My body is really getting to the uncomfortable stage, but it's really not that bad. The only thing that is really starting to hurt more is my back, and that's mainly from me being "all belly." This pregnancy has been pretty enjoyable and complication free, though, so I don't like to complain. A few friends welcomed their baby boys into their world last weekend, and they are all such beautiful and sweet babies. It makes me even more anxious as to when mine will come. I can't wait to meet him, hold him, and kiss his sweet lips. Daddy is ready to play with his baby boy instead of just the poking game they do through my belly. It's pretty cute & fun to watch though. We have a baby shower next weekend on the 12th, and I'm pretty excited about it. My sweet friend Melissa is throwing it, and it will be a great time to see a bunch of family & friends. My mom is even flying in from Georgia to come and spend a few days with us. It will be her first time to see me pregnant in person, so she's pretty excited (as am I).

I'm currently reading a book on breastfeeding that my friend Aly recommended called So That's What They're For by Janet Tamaro. It's a great book so far. It's easy to read, very informative but without being too serious or hardcore. It's full of good laughs. I'm really enjoying it and recommend it for anyone who is currently breastfeeding or thinking about it.

Daniel started his new job with Terracon, an engineering consultant business. Basically, he supervises concrete pours at construction sites to make sure the concrete is the right consistency and has the correct slump as per the client's guidelines. That's what my understanding of it is at least. He might have to correct me. lol. Not my field, so I don't fully understand it. His first two weeks he put in a total of about 114 hours, so needless to say he works a lot. This has been his 3rd week, and things have seemed to slow down. I believe he'll only be putting in 40something hours this week. He likes it, though, and really enjoys his co-workers. The downside is that some of these concrete pours are at like 4a.m., so he has to leave the house at like 2:45a.m. It's very tiring, and I never know what time he'll be done each day. He stays pretty positive and still spends quality time with me, though. Plus, the money is good, so we shouldn't really complain.

We are loving our new home, but did have to suffer through a very irritating loud buzzing noise for the first month. It came from the water pump to the hot water system outside on the other side of our bathroom wall that traveled through the pipes. So it was the loudest in our bathroom, but could be heard all along the backside of our walls in the condo. We had to shut our bathroom door at night just to muffle the sound some, but it still gave us a little trouble sleeping (mainly Daniel b/c I'm a pretty good sleeper- even at 8 months pregnant). Well, the beginning of last week it started to get worse, and last Tuesday (8/24), I saw two guys out there working on it. They were just moving the pump out from the wall some and told me that they honestly didn't think it would help the noise at all. To stop the noise, the pump needed to be replaced, but they didn't have the authorization to do that since it still technically worked (just extremely loudly). Well, since these are individually owned & managed condos and the pump is outside, I wasn't sure who I actually needed to go through. Well, after some phone calls, I learned I needed to speak with Century 21 who is the HOA for our complex. They agreed to replace the pump, but said it would take 2-3 weeks to come in. Well, thankfully, that pump came in Wednesday and has been replaced already, so the noise is GONE! YAY! You have no idea how nice it is to have a quiet home now. We can actually hear each other if we're talking to each other in separate rooms, and actually lay in complete silence. So thankful that issue is finally resolved, especially before Joshua's arrival.

Well, it's Labor Day weekend and we're going to enjoy some time together and with friends. Should be a good weekend. =)

all sorts of new-ness

Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks.

First off, we moved out of our 1 bedroom college apartment and into a very nice and spacious 2 bedroom/ 2 bath condo (still in College Station). It's almost double the square footage and CHEAPER! woohoo! The other bedroom is kinda like a guest bedroom/study/storage/room for Joshua's stuff. He will just sleep in our room in a pack & play for his first couple months since we will be moving about 2 months after he arrives in our world! We have all of our own furniture now and this just feels more like home to us. I can't wait to bring Joshua here for his first home. I ordered his dresser online and we've received it. We just need to put it together. That we will try to conquer here soon. It's really the only thing we have left to do. Daniel did an amazing job organizing and finding a nice place for all the stuff we hadn't got to yet last Sunday while I was at Chelsey's baby shower. It was so sweet and awesome of him.

Also, last Friday we went to the doctor for another check up. Everything was great still. My blood pressure was great, measured accurately, no swelling, and got to hear his beautiful heartbeat (my favorite part). I saw a different doctor this time since my doctor was out of town, but the guy I saw was super nice and great. His wife and him actually started this doctor's office back in 1997 I believe he said. It was nice seeing another doctor in the office since depending on when I go into labor, any of them could be on call and deliver me if my doctor isn't available. I think there's like 6 or 7 doctors that could potentially deliver me. Oh, and I got an 86 on my glucose testing from the last time which is very good (one of my doctor friends even said it's like one of the lowest scores she's ever heard - which is a good thing!) because anything over 130 or 140, they make you do a 3 hour test that involves fasting- not fun! No gestational diabetes for me. Praise God!

We've also mailed in our registration and money for our childbirth & breastfeeding classes! I'm pretty excited about them and just to learn more about everything together as a couple. We will do the breastfeeding one Sept.8th in the evening & the childbirth one on Sept. 11th all day. I believe I will also be having a baby shower Sept. 12th, so that should just be an exciting week!

My (Amanda) last day of work will be August 19th. I'm sad because I will miss the two sweet kids I nanny, but I will need that time to rest and prepare for Joshua's arrival. Plus, some real exciting news is that Daniel has accepted a job with Terracon Engineering for the fall. He starts Monday, August 16th, and will work for them until we move to Virginia. They are very understanding about his commitments with the Marine Corps, but look forward to having him as their full-time guy for the fall, since most of their employees are grad students who take off or go part-time for the fall semester. Daniel was very excited to put in his 2 weeks to HEB after being with them for 7 years and 1 week. It's time for him to move onto a big boy job where he can actually use his degree. This Thursday will be his last day (YAY!) and then we are going out of town for the weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary! WHOOP!

All the praise goes to God for everything. Without Him, we would be nothing and none of this would truly mean anything. We are blessed and oh so thankful! =)

It's been a while... Sorry!!!

Well, we're just bad bloggers, I guess. I will try to get better, so I can keep y'all better updated on the Lane household as we await the arrival of our first child. We are so excited and eagerly await the arrival of our baby boy. As of yesterday, I started my 27th week, aka the start of my 3rd (and FINAL) trimester! Joshua could be here anywhere from 10-13 weeks from now and be considered full term. Makes me a little nervous since we still have so much left to get and do before he comes, but I know it will all work out with God in control. We went to the doctor on Friday, and Joshua is measuring accurately with a strong heartbeat. He's a healthy little one which we are so thankful about. I had to do my glucose test which consisted of me drinking this orange drink and then having my blood drawn an hour later. We should hear the results back from that sometime this week, so pray that it comes back normal. We go back in a little under 3 weeks, and then, I think she's going to start seeing me every 2 weeks. My back has just started hurting some, especially when I bend over to pick something up. It's like a nerve is getting pinched or something. Good thing I have a sweet husband who is willing to help me out. For example, today, we dropped some stuff off at Goodwill, walked around Target, and went grocery shopping. Well, by the end of all that, my back and my feet were really hurting (luckily, nothing is swelling- at least not yet), so he told me to go lay down when we walked in the door, and he put everything up by himself. He, also, cooked us dinner. Very much appreciated!!!

In other news, Daniel is not scheduled to report to TBS (combat school for new Marine officers) until mid- December, so we will be moving to Quantico, Virginia for that around the end of November/ beginning of December. Until then, we will be staying here in College Station which means our baby boy will get to be born in the great state of Texas. We're excited about that, especially since that means the doctor I've seen for my entire pregnancy so far will get to deliver me most likely (the exception being if Joshua decides to come at some odd hour when my doctor isn't available or the doctor on call since there are several doctors at the office we go to). The part we're not as excited about is that we'll have to move with a 2 month old baby, but we'll survive- no big deal. Anyways, our lease is up on our current apartment in August, and we are excited about that because these are young and loud college apartments and we're ready to get out of them to be in a quieter, more ideal setting for our expanding family. We have found a 2 bedroom/2 bath 1 floor townhouse that is almost double the square footage of our current apartment and $200 cheaper a month in rent. We plan on moving July 30th & 31st, and then, we'll actually be able to put together the nursery (even though it will only get like 2 months of use). I'll finally be able to let this nesting itch in me get out and to work! lol. We've had quite the clean 1 bedroom apartment lately since there isn't much I can do here. We might even be purchasing a queen size bed tomorrow which is very exciting since we've slept on a full size bed with a cheap mattress for the past year.

Besides that, we're just working and enjoying our summer. I'm still nannying and enjoying it. The little boy just turned 1 year old at the end of June and is so fun and cracks me up. The little girl is 2 1/2 and just as sweet and talkative as can be. I'll be sad when I'm not their nanny anymore because I've really had a blast. Daniel is still at HEB, poor guy. I know he's so ready to move on from it, but the Marines don't start paying him until he reports for TBS (unless, they start this language school at the end of August like they've mentioned). The email they sent out was asking to see how many lieutenants would be interested in doing it before they report for TBS, but no word has been said as to if they will actually do it or not. It would be nice if they did though, because Daniel would enjoy it and learn 2 Afghani dialects. Plus, he would start getting paid and we would receive a housing allowance.

Basically, we're just trying to live by faith and give all the control to God. There's no use worrying about things because God promises to take care of those who truly love Him and seek Him. Hope y'all enjoyed our update, and I will try to not to wait so long before I blog again.