Pregnancy Highlights: 22 Weeks

How Far Along: 22 weeks...she is 11 inches long and about the size of a spaghetti squash!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 10-ish

Maternity Clothes: yeah

Best Moment this week: Seth may have felt her kick! More to come on that (with consistency). Oh, and Cooper, my nephew, was born. :)

Gender: Girl.

Movement: She's an active little thing, mostly during the day and when Seth pokes my stomach at night to wake her up (directly before I go to bed).

Food Cravings: Nothing at the moment.

What I miss: Caffeine!!!

Sleep: Sort of crappy again. Between the bladder, Carter fussing, not being able to get comfortable, and the extreme wind, it's been tough!

What I am looking forward to: Organizing! I'm champing at the bit to get that underway (bet you thought I mis-typed that, huh? It's not actually 'chomping at the bit' as people say - champing is correct...I was shocked when I learned this a few years ago!)

Symptoms: Headaches (but I think that might be from staring at the computer all day right now), heartburn and SERIOUS indigestion.

Things I've learned from being a mom...of a toddler

Sorry it's been a year since we've updated. Life is hectic and I'm tired all the time and there just isn't that much you probably care about going on. :)

One of my favorite bloggers did a list of things she's learned from being a mom to a baby (and another one on the way!), and I thought it was adorable and funny. So here's my list of things I've learned from mothering a toddler (with another one on the way!):

- Always have snacks. I do mean always. At the grocery store, gas station, mall, car, anywhere - have something. You will pay if you do not.

- Go to bed at a decent time because chances are, toddler will not care that you went to bed at midnight, and they will be raring and tearing to go at 4:45 a.m. Hypothetically speaking, of course. And, it's true - putting them to bed later does not equal sleeping later. It equals a toddler with less sleep, because they WILL still get up at 4:45 a.m.

- When you are a working mom, toddlers want your undivided attention when you walk in that door. So expect a little lump hanging on your right leg while you stir pasta, mix up sauce, and simultaneously chop lettuce for salads. Give them "chores" to keep them busy. Handing them single utensils to "set the table" will help kill a few minutes of said toddler not hanging on your leg. :)

- ....which leads me to this. No longer plan on eating dinner at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. 5:00 is the new "in" time because toddlers are famished after daycare where they received two healthy, well-rounded meals, and two nutricious snacks.

- Plan to get very excited about airplanes in the sky, big trucks driving beside you on the road, diggers in the parking lot, and the fish in the tank at church. And it's super cute. :)

- They will want to hold your hand all the time - and it will melt your heart. How is my baby almost TWO already?!?!?! I hope he holds my hand when he is 18. I don't think he will. But I hope. :)

- You need patience, and a lot of it.

There are so many more I could write, but I'll leave it at this: a toddler has taught me A LOT in life. I'm stressed and tired, but blessed and overwhelmingly happy. I love my little life and my little boy and I can't believe he's going to be a big brother in a few months!

Pregnancy Highlights: 21 Weeks

How Far Along: 21 weeks...she is about 10.5 inches long and weighs almost a pound!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: As of this morning 10 point something...

Maternity Clothes: yeah

Best Moment this week: Picking out bedding...didn't order yet, but narrowing it down!

Gender: Girl.

Movement: She's an active little thing, mostly during the day. She sleeps at night. For now.

Food Cravings: No cravings right now. :)

What I miss: Sleeping fully on my belly. Still can do it with a slight tilt, but I miss the full-on belly sleeping.

Sleep: Ok for now, but starting to have depressing and weiiiiiird dreams. Last week, I dreamt that Seth was divorcing me, and last night, I dreamt that I bit (yes, bit) Bentley's muzzle off. Um, okay!?!?

What I am looking forward to: Starting to get some things ready for the nursery (this means lots of cleaning out of the guest room closet and dresser drawers...joy).

Symptoms: Nothing new...lower back pain and round ligament pain here and there, though that has died down a bit. My skin is pretty dry and so is my hair (which is SO OPPOSITE of my pregnancy with Carter). I also need to wash my face like a fiend lest I look like a 13-year-old girl. Awesome. :)

Pregnancy Highlights: 20 Weeks

How Far Along: 20 weeks - half way there!!! Not sure what baby is supposed to weigh (maybe like 9 oz.?) but the ultrasound estimated baby to weight around 12.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: At last formal check, 6 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: yeah

Best Moment this week: Finding out everything was healthy and normal at the ultrasound last week - I can get myself all worked up over these things, you know!

Gender: While we can hardly believe it, it's a GIRL! Carter is excited about his baby shish-er.

Movement: Lots.

Food Craving: We are just a few days out from the stomach flu, so no cravings right now. :)

What I miss: When we slept past 4:45 a.m. Hmm, when was that?!?!?!

Sleep: Alright. See above though. Our adorable little firstborn seems to want to spend maximum (and I do mean maximum) time with us each day. :)

What I am looking forward to: Things like figuring out the nursery, buying some mary janes, and finalizing baby girl's name! I think we've got it though!

Symptoms: Back and roung ligament pain. Same old, same old.

AND, coming tonight*, our very first photo (family, check out our photo site). I'm wearing red for Valentine's Day and it just feels right. HAHA. Plus, I made my "20 weeks" sign, and that's as far as we've gotten with this pregnancy yet, so we'll consider that a good sign.



*I've said this before; don't hold your breath. :)

The details

So, yes. Phew. IT'S A GIRL!! We almost can't believe it either. I hardly slept at all Wednesday night and then had myself in a nervous, sick-in-the-stomach mess on Thursday morning. I was super nervous for that appointment with Carter, too! I just know it is so much more than "a gender reveal." And while I'm on it, can I just say that I HATE how quiet the ultrasound techs are as they measure and then when you ask them a question like "oh ok, is that normal?" and they say "The doctor will talk to you about it."

Um, WHAT?!?! Talk to me about WHAT?

All that needless worry/vomit feeling was for nothing because when the doctor came in, he said everything about baby girl was just fine, and she looked very healthy. She was INCREDIBLY squirmy during the ultrasound and was making me nervous that she wouldn't let us see the money shot. She did, and the tech was quick and sure of herself when she said "Here are the [girl parts that don't need to be written on my blog]. It's a little girl!" I wish they would check, check, and check again for my sanity.

And so I can go SHOPPING!!!! I've been dying to buy something pink for quite some time, and now I can.

Here are two of the pictures we got! I'm sure July 3rd will be here before we know it! Carter is "excited" and says he's going to have a "shish-er." So cute. :)

P.S. And yes, we'll share the name soon. :) We are like 99% sure of it but a certain someone wants to play hardball as we absolutely finalize. Silly man.

It's a....

Boy or girl, we didn't know what to think.

But baby #2 will be wearing PINK!

We are SO excited!
More details to follow!! :)

Carter's First Haircut. And the day I vowed he'd never get another.

One day, I woke up and naively thought it would be a super day for Carter to get his hair cut. It had been a mess the past few weeks, and picture day is coming up at school. Seth had a work event and I'm crazy, so I went along with my original (terrible) plan. I called a local salon at 8:05 a.m. and they told me they only had one appointment left at 8:20 a.m. Ten minutes away. I have never gotten us dressed and presentable so fast. I think Carter thought we were going somewhere fun.

Wrong, little boy, wrong.

When we got there (only two minutes late!), he went right into the chair. The only way I can describe it is that he was completely terrified. He was as still as could be and was just staring at me to make sure I didn't leave him. I told her to just do the haircut he had, but shorter, so as to not waste any time. And she quickly--very quickly--got to work. I was nervous that it would be all uneven she was going so fast. Guess they do enough of these to know what to do...

This is approximately three minutes into the haircut, and about the time he realized this lady had scissors. I am serious, every time Seth and I have tried to cut his hair, he acts like the scissors are going to kill him.

I very quickly broke out the cheese curls I had packed for some 8:30 a.m. bribery. It worked like a charm for exactly two minutes. And that's when I broke out the fruit snacks. What? Don't judge. :)

And then it happened. The meltdown began, and it was bad. I'm not going to lie to you, every old lady in the place was talking about the "sweet boy" whose mom was making him get a hair cut. Thankfully, they all seemed to pity us and not want to curse us out of there.

He freaked so bad that I had to hold him, and we eventually got to a point where she was unable to finish around one of the ears because there was a risk she'd cut him. We gave up and called it a haircut.

$1 later (seriously, they charge $1 per age of the child, though she got a pretty sweet tip for that experience), we were on our way. Later in the day, I came in for the stealth mommy last minute snip above the ear, and the little boy was good as new. :)

I'm praying his hair doesn't grow again for a LONG time because that was a lot of stress for one day. :)

Pregnancy Highlights: 19 Weeks

Holy cow - almost 1/2 way already!! Time is flying, but that could be from a cute little towhead that keeps my busy. And yes, I know we haven't taken a SINGLE pregnancy picture yet, but we hope to remedy that soon. It has never really been in the forefront of my mind because who wants a photo to commemorate how large they feel?? But we'll do it anyway to compare to C. One to HOPEFULLY come this week.

How Far Along: 19 weeks - the baby is 6 inches long from head to rump, and is the size of a large heirloom tomato. Baby can hear our voice this week and the brain is developing the areas for the five senses!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 6 pounds-ish. Haven't stepped on a scale outside the doctor's office even once this whole pregnancy.

Maternity Clothes: yeah

Best Moment this week: Hanging out with friends for the Superbowl.

Gender: We find out on Thursday!!!!! I still cannot figure out what I think it is. Don't forget to vote on the right or make your final guesses in the comments. I'll post on here and on my Facebook after the appointment Thursday (which is at 9 a.m.). I also love our names and can't wait to figure out what we can call "it"! If it is a girl, I'm going shopping. I love you, honey.

Movement: Lots of tumbling and little kicks. I suddenly remember that weird feeling of nausea (from my pregnancy with C) when the baby moves so much.

Food Craving: Nothing at the moment.

What I miss: Eh, I'm fine for now. :)

Sleep: Pretty good. Still waking very early due to aforementioned towhead. :) He sure is cute though, which makes getting up at o-dark-thirty not quite as bad. I said NOT QUITE.

What I am looking forward to: THURSDAY! Besides the gender, praying hard that everything is okay developmentally with the baby too. I thought this appointment was SO nerve-wracking with Carter.

Symptoms: I hope my round ligaments don't rip apart. I'm just sayin'.

Big Shoes to Fill :)