Rhett's Baby Shower!

This past weekend, my sweet friends Whitney, Lori, and Rachel threw me a shower for Baby Rhett.  (Have I mentioned that's officially his name??)  I feel so incredibly blessed to have such loving people in my life, and so thankful for their friendship. 

Everything was so cute!

Yummy brunch food! 

Fun flowers!  (I love flowers.) 

Lori and Rachel

My mom and I. 

With all the Lowry ladies!



With the hostesses, Whitney, Lori and Rachel.



A new baby monitor from Logan's parents!



Sweet baby clothes.



A cute shirt for big brother Knox!

Yummy (and adorable) popcorn party favors.

A couple of pictures...

I've been such a slacker in taking pictures lately, so here are just a couple that I took recently. 

Beautiful Boy

Completely enthralled with Toy Story 3.  By far his favorite movie these days.  

Our next door neighbor, Mr. Gary, mows every Sunday morning, providing at least 45 minutes of solid entertainment for Knox.  This particular day the weather was so nice we had opened the windows, which gave Knox the full mowing experience - sight, sound and smell!  Here he is trying not to let Mr. Gary out of his sight!  (Pardon the lack of pants...)

Bump Watch!

A few updated bump pictures!  I'm still going for my weekly fetal cardiology and perinatologist appointments for sonograms to check on the little guy, and so far so good!  We haven't heard any SVT since my last hospital admission mid-June, so that's been a huge blessing.  At 29 weeks, he was already measuring 3 lbs 2 ounces, so he seems to be growing just fine!  I think Logan and I are also getting very close to nailing down a name for this one, FINALLY!!  But I'll save that for another post when we're 100% decided.  :)  Now for the pictures...

It's crazy how much bigger I look at 30 weeks than in my 27 week picture!  Oh, and I've realized in all my bump pictures I'm always wearing the same 3 outfits.  I promise I have other clothes I wear - and the funny thing is I choose the outfits for the bump pictures thinking "I haven't worn this in a while".  Guess I need to mix it up some more!  :)

New Sensory Activities

So lately I've been trying to come up with new ideas for ways to entertain Knox that allow him to both learn, and use his imagination.  I don't want him just propped in front of the TV all the time, and I didn't want to spend a fortune on more toys with lights and sounds (that annoy me) and do the "imagining" for him.  So I did some research and kept finding articles about Sensory Play for toddlers.  Basically, the reason toddlers are always getting into things is because everything is a new experience for them, and their "exploring" and getting into things is how they learn.  So sensory play provides lots of colors and textures and activities that safely let them explore how things work.  The problem I'd had with sensory play in the past was that all of the activities seemed messy - like having your child "clean" your cabinets with foam - and that just doesn't work for me.  Doesn't sound like much fun for me to have to clean up a giant mess afterwards.  So I found some sensory activities that are "Lorin Approved" (read: clean and fun!). 

My supplies!  To list a few: finger paint that we will put in a zip lock baggie and let him smoosh  around, sensory bottles filled with different things (like glitter and water, oil and colored water, soap and colored water, etc.), pipe cleaners to stick through the holes of a collander, dried black eyed peas to feel and measure with the measuring cups, puff balls and jingle bells to measure and sort in a muffin tin, contact paper to stick pre-cut construction paper shapes on, and velcro popsicle sticks to stick and un-stick.  Lots of things to keep a toddler busy!

I also made colored rice to put in another sensory bottle for him to shake. 

Just woke up from his nap... and not quite sure what to think about all the new "toys".  (He's like me and needs about 15 minutes to wake up before you start talking to him.)

Playing with the "slime bag"!  (Hair gel and food coloring in a zip lock, taped to the window.)  I thought he'd love the smooshy texture, but he didn't really care for it!

Checking out the sensory bottles...

Pretending to take a drink!  (No worries - I hot glued all the lids on.)

Sorting puff balls into the muffin tin.  He could have done this all day!

Overall, I think Knox really enjoys all of his new "toys".  I've been trying to keep them seperate from his other toys so that it seems like a treat when I pull these out.  So far it's working!  To be honest, I think I had as much fun feeling crafty while making these toys as he's had playing with them.  :) 

Introducing: Mr. and Mrs. Curry!

Logan's youngest sister Leah got married to her sweet fiance Tyler over the weekend.  They had a small ceremony at sunset on a boat in Lake Ray Hubbard, and it was perfect.  Just their style. 

The beautiful bride!

All three of the Lowry girls - Lyndsie, Leah and Lacie.



Leah and me before the wedding.

The hubby and me.  Love that guy.  :)  This was my favorite part of the night... as we got onto the boat to find our seats, they served us Blue Bell ice cream to keep us cool.  Genius! 



Mr. Len walking her down the aisle.  Love how excited she is!

The vows.

Introducing:  Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Curry!!  (LOVE how he's looking at Leah.)

After the ceremony, we had dinner on the first level of the boat, followed by a fireworks show and dancing!  Congratulations Leah and Tyler!  We are so happy for you, and thrilled to have Tyler officially join the family.  We love you guys!

 

Cutie Pie!!

After I finished taking my weekly bump picture yesterday, Knox really wanted to play with the chalkboard.  I got some really great pictures of him in the process!  It's so hard to get him to sit still for a picture (or anything, really) these days, so I was very happy with how these turned out!

My new favorite picture of us! 

So proud of himself for erasing the chalkboard... with his hands.

His serious model face.  :)

So handsome!

LOVE that smile!

Best thing I've ever done.  :)

New Bump Pictures

I've been a slacker on taking the bump pictures lately!  Here are the most recent:

Since I was discharged from the hospital, I've had weekly sonograms and fetal echoes with either Dr. Weiss or Amit, and so far so good!  The baby looks perfect and appears to be staying out of SVT!  (I haven't heard any SVT with my home doppler, either.)  So it looks like this combo of meds is working for him.  Hooray!!  At my appointment yesterday, Dr. Weiss said the baby is weighing in at 2 pounds 5 ounces.  Already a big boy!

I still have to take my nausea medicine every morning with that first dose of Digoxin, otherwise I lose my breakfast.  Still feeling tired and occasionally dizzy, but overall I can't complain.  I'm so very happy to be able to be at home and not in the hospital! 

Thank you for the continued prayers!