Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day, our friend Karen watched Trafton a few days prior so we could have a nice date out to Balzano's Restaurant (where we went on our first date!). It was really nice to be out alone and not entertaining a toddler at a restaurant :) Then we celebrated on Valentine's Day, of course. Daniel got a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me, with tons of lilies in it, of course! Trafton got a package in the mail from Grandmom and Grandpop, which he had fun opening. He was excited about the new book and cookies, but he might have been most excited by the card with a frog on it. We have it standing on our table on display and Trafton picks it up daily and is still asking us to read it to him.

There's a Girl in There!

This past Wednesday we had our 20 week sonogram to check the anatomy and learn the gender of the baby. Based on my recent history of stressful medical news (Cristl, Trafton) and based on the fact that at this appointment with Trafton, all sorts of red flags were placed because only one kidney could be located, it's no secret that I wasn't terribly excited about this appointment. Mostly, just nervous. We arrived at our 8:00 appointment on time and were seen right away. A very nice technician completed our scan in about 45 minutes and told us two great pieces of news - there was a GIRL in there and she had TWO kidneys. Instant relief flooded us at the news of the dual kidneys, and then shock hit me as I realized that we were having a girl! I couldn't believe it. Because of the number of boys in the Beyer family, I really thought we didn't stand a chance! How wonderful :)

When the technician was finished, she said the doctor would be right in. At this point in the 20 week appointment with Trafton, this is what happened: a worried doctor came in and checked my body for two kidneys, which she found. She told us about the risks associated with having a child with one kidney. She then explained that we would have to be seen several more times to monitor this situation. We were sent to see a genetic counselor. We were sent to several more ultrasounds with several more high risk doctors to monitor amniotic fluid and progression of the one kidney. One of our appointments ended with us nervously waiting for a doctor in a 'patient education' room where we thought terrible news awaited us, but it didn't. At this point in this 20 week appointment, this is what happened: a kind older doctor came in, told us everything looked wonderful, we were having a perfectly healthy little girl, we would not need to have another ultrasound or be seen by high risk doctors any more, and wished us the best with the remainder of the pregnancy and delivery. I got a little emotional here. I mean, at no point in the pregnancy with Trafton did a doctor ever say things like that to us. It was a really, really great feeling. Knowing that there's a healthy little girl in there is certainly going to make me enjoy the next few months!

The technician put an arrow on this picture showing the location of the girl parts!

Trafton's New Room

We have decided to convert our guest room into Trafton's room and keep Trafton's room as a nursery for our new baby. Our nursery was purposely designed gender-neutral with a forest theme, so we won't have to change much. We hope to make several changes to the restof the house, though. First, paint the guest room blue and design it with a train theme for Trafton. Second, change our enclosed porch area into an office. Third, change the very small room that is currently used as our office into a guest room (it will just fit a double bed without any extra room!). Fourth, change the hall closet into Daniel's closet, since his clothes are all in Trafton's future closet and the future tiny guest room has no closet. We have a lot of work to do in the next 20 weeks :)

The first step to this whole grand plan has been to remove the queen-sized bed out of the guest room. We plan to get a lower-profile double bed for Trafton and put a guardrail on it. So, last weekend Daniel's father and brother came to take our bed away. It's a very nice bed, but unfortunately we have no place to put it anymore, so Al agreed to take it off of our hands. The only trick was getting it out of the house during a slight snowstorm and east on I-80 to New Jersey. Piece of cake :)

Our guest bed - it is very high and just not good for a two-year-old.

The guest room and Daniel's closet

Guest room corner

Saying farewell to our current set up

Enjoying the bed one last time

This room is at the back of our house so it has the best view. With the windows open in nice weather you can listen to our pond waterfall in the backyard.

Bringing it down

The bed, frame, and split box were moved in a matter of minutes.

Now it was time to wrap everything in plastic to avoid damage on the interstate.

Not bad!

Everything loaded into Michael's truck - time for the trip back to New Jersey.

Off they go!

20 Months!

Trafton turned 20 months last Saturday. He is getting more and more independent (and FUN!) everyday. He knows several of his animal sounds now and is starting to mimic what we say more often. Trafton also follows basic commands pretty well. There are certainly times when he refuses to follow directions and then he throws himself face down on the ground and just screams - his temper tantrums are rather amusing. He still loves to play outside and read books all the time. When I see him with his daycare class (the one-year-olds) he no longer looks like the baby of the group, rather one of the largest. At his last doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 31 pounds.

I wonder if he will always love to be naked?

A headband he made at daycare for their Thanksgiving feast


Playing with Daniel's birthday balloon while riding his wheely bug - Charley Hogan loves the string, but Trafton usually gets pretty upset when a cat wants to play with one of his toys.

Fun with shaving cream

While in the kitchen one night, Trafton was playing around the house like he usually does, when we heard a terrible scream. We ran into the next room to find this. Somehow Trafton had gotten his shirtsleeve caught on a peg in the bongo stand and it appears that he tried to solve the problem himself, while getting more tangled. He was pretty worked up.

Trafton is interested in climbing everything . . .

. . . even though this is often the result.

He really enjoys sitting in a regular chair now, although he doesn't complain when we use his highchair.

Riding on his 4-wheeler that he got from Uncle Jason for Christmas

Entertaining himself with books and making animal sounds

Trafton always has time for a story.

Trafton is interested in the cats still, although not as interested as he was when he first started to notice them. Rather than saying cat now, he makes a sort of 'meow' sound. We've been teaching him to use 'nice touches' and when he is reminded, he does a nice job at petting them gently.

Trafton loves his rocker from Pappy and he is finally big enough to climb on and rock by himself.

Rocking usually leads to a daredevil maneuver, though.

Pretty pleased with himself!

It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but Trafton fell at daycare and came home with a pretty good shiner on his right eye.

Showing Pappy how much fun it is to play games on the iPad

Causing some computer trouble for us - Trafton knows not to touch the computer, but don't all toddlers constantly push their boundaries?

Daddy's Cafe

Sometimes on Saturday mornings, when we are all in the kitchen getting breakfast ready, we put on concert footage of our favorite bands instead of the radio and call it Daddy's Cafe. Daniel finds updated clips for us to watch/listen to and Trafton is usually pretty enthralled and claps when they are over.

Superbowl!

This year neither the Jets nor the Ravens made it into the Superbowl, but we still watched and rooted for the Giants. I made some loaded nachoes and Daniel made his chili.

Trafton's First Haircut - Feb. 5th

I knew the time was coming, but I can't say I was really looking forward to it . . . Trafton's hair had finally gotten to the point where it was just so unruly and sort of curly and in his eyes that it had to be done. As a lover of long hair, especially on boys, this was tough for me. I wanted to do it myself, I wanted it to still be long, and I didn't want it to look like I just stuck a bowl over his head. What an ordeal it was :)

Trafton's crazy blonde locks

He doesn't know what he's in for.

Still not quite sure what is happening yet . . .

Oh Mama, this can't be good!

I had given Trafton a bath the night before, so I figured just some spritzes of water would do the trick.

Maybe he didn't like it because this is the spray bottle we use on the cats when they are misbehaving?

Full-on fuss! Towel is off, screams are erupting, we all just want this to be over!

I really think I could have done a better job if Trafton would have held still even for a few seconds, but the twising and turning of the head and the protesting in general made it like a circus act! Still, no one got cut, stabbed, or hurt at all, that's gotta count for something.

Whew, are we finally done? How does it look, Mama, does it need to be styled?

Trafton often likes to take the comb from me in the mornings and do his own hair.

Finished product!