This is the story of my life...and I write it everyday.

Big Sister Brianna . . .

2012-02-10T07:30:00.001-06:00

. . . is so happy to announce that Momma and Dada headed to the hospital today!

It's BABY TIME! Hooray!

Zoo Day!

2012-02-09T18:40:00.002-06:00

For the past several weekends, Chris and I have been wanting to take Brianna to the local zoo. She LOVES animals and plays with the Little People Zoo she got for Christmas every day. We thought it would be one more fun outing to have as the three of us before Mr. Brenson arrives (SOMEDAY!).

This morning, even though the weather was a bit chilly, we decided that today was the day for the zoo! And, as an added benefit, this would be the perfect way for me to walk, walk, walk :-).

Because it's a Thursday in February - and because of the weather - the zoo was pretty much EMPTY of guests. There were literally like 10 cars in the parking lot. We've never been on a day like this, and honestly it was wonderful! Also, the animals were very active compared to the dead of summer when we normally see them. It was fantastic!

The chimps were coming right up to the window to say hi to us. We probably spent 20 minutes in the chimp house interacting with them. I don't know if it was because we were the only ones in there or what, but it was so neat!

The animals were posing for us! We loved it!

Brianna thought the pink flamingos were funny . . . and really, they are a pretty funny animal!

Little Miss gets so serious sometimes watching the animals. We love watching her watch them :-).

I've never really seen the Lions up and moving around much, but today they were. This guy even roared a few times for us (a little scary!). See what I mean about them posing?

Our zoo has three giraffes, and they are so cute. They came right up to us like we were as fascinating to them as they are to us!

We spent a lot of time watching the giraffes.

This guy was napping until we walked up. He wanted to see the people crazy enough to be out on such a chilly day!

We were even able to see the elephants working with a trainer and doing a few tricks.

I'm so glad that we took the time to do this with Brianna. We all had a great time, and decided that THIS was definitely the way to visit the zoo. I don't know if it was the weather or lack of crowd, but seeing the animals out and about like this was AMAZING!

Ring Around the Rosie

2012-02-08T07:02:00.000-06:00

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my 10 year old niece, Kaylee, taught Brianna and Chloe Jo how to play Ring Around the Rosie. They both loved it and played and played and played it while we were in Tennessee at Kaylee's house.

Brianna played it a bit more with Kaylee when we saw them at Christmas, but hasn't really brought it up much since then. The other night, I was on the phone with Kaylee and she asked to talk to Brianna. When Brianna got on the phone, she almost immediately said, "Ring a Rosie" to Kaylee! I was honestly surprised that she remembered and associated since it has been over a month.

Yesterday, on our way home from my doctor's appointment, Brianna started playing Ring Around the Rosie in the car with her mini Barbie doll. AND, I was lucky enough to actually catch it on video! This is for you, Cousin Kay Kay!

Pregnancy Update: 40 weeks!

2012-02-06T19:30:00.000-06:00

Okay folks, I'm 40 weeks pregnant today! That means Brenson should be preparing to make his debut any day now!

Here's how I'm looking these days (this was actually yesterday before church):

I have no comparison belly pic this week because at this point with Brianna, she was almost a week old :-).

I'm really taking things one day at a time these days. Some days this past week were harder than others, mainly due to lack of sleep. I just can't get comfortable! I generally sleep well for about 3 hours, then my hips and back start hurting due to increased pressure and I toss and turn for several hours then just get up. If I'm really tired that day, I move a lot slower than normal. Brianna will say, "C'mon Momma! Let's go!" Haha . . . I usually tell her that Momma is doing the best she can (this is mainly when I'm trying to get up from off the floor or out of the chair to chase her where ever she is going).

Typically, our appointments with Dr. N have been first-thing Monday mornings. Today, however, it was at 11:30am because Dr. N had a scheduled C-section, and after what happened last week I wanted to wait for him. When I checked in at about 11:25, Tara told me that he was gone on a delivery and they weren't sure when he'd be back. I told her I would just wait on him, and we didn't end up seeing him until about 12:40pm! I always have conflicted feelings about waiting so long for him. I love that he drops everything to go deliver his patients (because I want him to do that for me!), but the wait can get a little tedious at times. I was happy we waited, though, because I was really able to talk to him and ask questions and get the information I wanted.

My blood pressure was 130 over 80. The nurse wasn't concerned with this number, but this is quite a bit higher than mine normally runs. Of course, she was asking me how last week's appointment went while taking it (because she was gone last week), so that may have had something to do with it :-). I didn't gain any weight (lost just a few ounces, actually), so my overall weight gain is still 30 pounds. I was happy about that!

When Dr. N came in, he also asked me about last week's appointment, and I told him straight up (albeit, nicely) that it wasn't a good experience. He apologized for what happened, and I could tell he wasn't thrilled with how I was treated. He did an ultrasound of Brenson - and after discovering that his head is still floating - said he was going to check me but to be prepared for no progress again. Sure enough, my cervix is still very high and very closed. Brenson still looks healthy, was moving, breathing, and had a strong heartbeat, but his fluid was a little low. Dr. N was not alarmed, but said we will need to monitor it pretty closely.

After checking me, Dr. N told me to get dressed and he would come back in so we could talk. When he came back into the room, he basically said that I'm not induce-able yet and that we just need to keep waiting. NOT what I wanted to hear! However, I think he's a good doctor and I trust him. He said that if we try to induce before Brenson's head is engaged, there are too many ways for things to not progress properly and it would likely result in a C-section. He didn't think we were ready to "cut him out" yet, and neither do I.

HOWEVER, Dr. N did bring up concerns that if I get too far along or if Brenson gets too big without any progress or engagement happening, we might have to think seriously about a C-section. We have about a week or so before that needs to be a serious consideration though (provided that fluid levels remain okay), especially since this is baby #2 and things can progress quickly.

At this point, I asked how big Dr. N thought Brenson might be, and he said, "Well, let's just check." He had me lay back down on the table, and he did another ultrasound! He warned me that weight estimates are very hard to get accurate at this point, but he guesses that Brenson is about 9 pounds. YIKES! He certainly feels bigger than Brianna ever did, so I personally feel like this is pretty accurate. Plus, two weeks ago his weight estimate was about 8 pounds so that is right on track with a 1/2 pound a week weight gain (which is what "the books" say is average for an infant at this gestational age).

Right now, we have another appointment set for Thursday morning. This is to check Brenson's fluid and do a non-stress test to make sure that he's doing okay. Dr. N will also check my cervix again then. If I am running too low on fluid or Brenson is in distress, we'll do whatever is necessary to get him out at that time. If my cervix is finally dialating, we'll probably induce. If everything looks the same, we'll wait a few more days. Of course, there is always the possibility that I'll suddenly go into labor on my own before then (Tuesday is a full moon!) We are praying that labor happens on its own, but we will see.

Chris and I were both disappointed when leaving Dr. N's office. We're just so ready to meet our little man! I was trying gear myself up mentally for the possibility of a whole week more of pregnancy, so I was very quiet in the car. Brianna kept asking me, "Momma happy?" Sweet baby . . . she could sense that we were let down. However, I'm good now. I just had to take a bit to process everything (this is not how I expected things to go today!).

I know there are lots of things that can be done to bring on labor, and we have been doing all we can! I'm not taking any herbal concoctions or using castor oil, but we are pretty much doing everything else. I'm walking, rocking, squatting, eating spicy foods, etc. I got a pedicure. We even looked up pressure points that supposedly bring on labor, and Chris has been giving me massages using those. BUT, I'm still hanging in here all big and huge and pregnant . . . trying so very hard to be patient!

Fun and cute baby gifts

2012-02-03T07:00:00.024-06:00

When I first found out that I was pregnant, several of my friends talked about throwing me a baby shower. I felt really conflicted about this for several reasons. While I felt so blessed that I had people in my life wanting to celebrate me and my baby, it wasn't even 2 years ago that I had four baby showers generously thrown for me by my friends and family. I didn't want to take advantage of my friends' generosity by having yet another baby shower when there wasn't even that much that we needed. Not that I think it's at all wrong to have a baby shower for a second baby, I just didn't feel like it was the right thing for me.

Anyway, so I pretty much said no thank you to a baby shower, but that didn't stop our family and friends from giving us lots of fun gifts! We really are so blessed! I couldn't resist showing you all some of the fabulous things we've been gifted.

This is one of the very first gifts that a friend bought us for Brenson. It's a {large} giraffe playmat and is soooooo soft. I've read great things about these!

My sister made us these super-cute booties for Little Man:

I love the giraffes on the bottoms of them!

Brianna loved her bouncy seat, but we had borrowed it from my sister. She has since gotten rid of most of her baby stuff. When we were gifted some cash, we used it to purchase this bouncy seat (yes, it's jungle themed . . . I'm pretty sure I've gone way overboard with this):

My mom made us these flannel receiving blankets. I love them because they are bigger than ones you can buy:

This blanket was a Christmas gift to Brenson from my sister. The backside of it is super-soft and I know Brenson will love it!

Recently, my Aunt sent us a package in the mail that had lots of fun gifts in it. Among them were these flannel burp cloths (there were 2 of each). Brianna spit up CONSTANTLY until she was about 7 months old and the flannel burp cloths were the best at helping us contain the mess. We have lots of burp cloths for Brenson, just in case he's like his sister in that department. She also sent the adorable flannel receiving blanket. Love the blue/green fabric!

Also included in the package was this framed print that she made. It goes perfectly in Brenson's room!

How cute is this dinosaur coin bank?

This book was a gift from my brother's family. Brianna has a ton of books, so I'm glad that we're starting Brenson a collection as well.

One night, I was browsing Etsy and found a matching burp cloth and onesie set. I loved it, but the seller was asking more than I was willing to pay for it. So, I enlisted my sister to make me a few. I bought plain white burp cloths and onesies, a bit of cute fabric, and she produced these for me:

As well as these:

LOVE!

I'm excited to read this book! I know that raising a boy will be a whole different world than raising a girl.

Brenson has also received several super-soft and cute blankets:

He also has a closet full of ADORABLE clothes. Some of this I've purchased, but much of it has been gifts. There is waaaaay too much to showcase individually, but that doesn't mean we aren't grateful for each and every piece that we've been gifted!

This is actually just his 0 to 6 month size stuff. I have a tub of larger sizes packed away!

This photo is of our packed hospital bags, but I'm showing it because the diaper bag was a gift as well. As a side-note, the diaper bag is full of the things Brenson will need, the larger black bag has clothes and cosmetics for Chris and me, the blue back-pack is our bag with necessities for L&D, and the small bag is full of things to keep Brianna entertained should she have to spend a lot of time at the hospital with us (and to ease her mind . . . she was very concerned that there was no bag packed for her when she saw the bags sitting in Brenson's room).

Even Brianna has been spoiled by our friends/family with a few gifts of her own. I LOVE the Big Sister shirt that one of our friends had made for her! It is seriously so cute! The pop bottle is full of fun things to keep her entertained at the hospital or while I'm nursing at home, etc. Such a cute idea!

We've also received a few gifts of cash, baby cosmetics (like shampoo, lotion, etc), little toys, etc. So, although I opted out of having a shower, our family has certainly been showered with many wonderful gifts!

What month is this?

2012-02-02T07:00:00.008-06:00

The weather this week has been gorgeous (as in temps close to 70 degrees!) It's hard to believe that a year ago, we were buried in the biggest snowfall in our state's history.

Brianna and I have been having fun taking advantage of the gorgeousness and spending some time playing outside. I couldn't resist sharing these adorable videos. She is just getting so big! The videos were taken on Monday, January 30th.

I love how fast she learns how to do things. With just 10ish minutes and a little practice, she was climbing the slide ladder in no time!

And finally, I can't resist this little laugh! She does swing on the "big" swings sometimes, but after falling off twice, she was reluctant to get back on.

I love winter, but these days have been wonderful as well!

On waiting

2012-02-01T07:00:00.080-06:00

As you know, our doctor's appointment didn't really go well this past Monday, and I left the office feeling defeated and frustrated. I think had Dr. N been there, the outcome could have been much different. The reason I think this is because Dr. N has been talking to us about setting an induction date since I was about 36 weeks along. I personally think that the choice of whether or not to be induced should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and the primary reason that Dr. N would like to induce us is for his own convenience. Not really a great reason, if you ask me. However, I think he would have persuaded me to set a date had we seen him on Monday.

I was induced with Brianna at exactly 39 weeks along. As some of you remember, we had some trouble during my pregnancy with her (at one point, she stopped growing for a while). At my 39 week ultrasound, Dr. N found that she was no longer growing, she had a decelerated heart-rate, and that her practice breathing had become sporadic. I had also noticed that her movement had really decreased. For these reasons, Dr. N felt that it was best to get her out. At the time, I was only dialated to {not quite} 1 cm and 70% effaced, so it took a while to get labor going. You can read her birth story here. In her case, I felt like induction was the best thing for her and I don't regret that decision.

This time around, I really do not want to be induced. I know this sounds silly, but I like the idea of going into labor on my own and all the excitement that comes along with that. However, I will admit that I am beginning to grow impatient, and the thought of an induction date is looking more appealing by the day. Even though I haven't even reached my due date yet, I feel like I may never go into labor on my own.

Irrational? Probably.

However, here is how the thoughts in my head are playing out:

My body could never get pregnant without help. In fact, I had to have medicine to make me produce an egg, to make the egg grow, to make my body release the egg, and even to grow the baby in Brianna's case. I never went into labor on my own with her, so what in world makes me think that my body will go into labor on its own this time? I've had to have help with every single step along the way, so why not this one?

Is this just impatience and hormones running a muck? Most likely. I'm just so ready and so uncomfortable right now. I really thought Brenson would be a January baby, so I'm pretty disappointed that he's not here yet. And yes, I absolutely realize that I set myself up for that disappointment and that it's totally my own fault. I did this same exact thing with Brianna when I decided in my head that she would arrive before Valentine's Day (she was due February 24th and born on February 18th). I'm my own enemy!

I am so thankful that I haven't had any problems with preterm labor. I would much, much rather be a little frustrated by making less progress than I want to than to be struggling to keep a baby from being a premie. So, I'm trying to be patient and trying to be content with today, but we are ready to meet you, Brenson! Please come soon :-).

Conversation with Brianna

2012-01-31T11:00:00.002-06:00

We took this short video yesterday before our doctor's appointment. I think it's funny that Brianna won't say Brenson's name, because she usually calls him Brenson about half of the time. I wish she would have said his name because she says it in a really cute way. She wasn't having it yesterday, though :-)

Pregnancy Update: 39 weeks!

2012-01-30T16:30:00.000-06:00

Today marks week 39 of pregnancy for me. Here I am this morning:

And, at 39 weeks with Brianna (taken about 24 hours before I went to the hospital to have her . . . about 48 hours before she was born):

I think I'm about the same "big", the babies are just carrying very differently. It's hard to tell because I'm standing pretty differently as well.

So . . . today. Today we had an appointment first thing this morning with Dr. N. When I checked in, the receptionist (whose name is Terry and is so great . . . love her!) told me that Dr. N was gone to perform a C-section and that Megan would see me today. I had never met Megan before, but I've heard good things about her. She is Dr. N's PA. In hindsight, I really wish they would have just rescheduled my appointment :-(.

When we were called back, a nurse I had never met before called us back, got my weight, took my blood pressure, etc. It was just so odd to be 39 weeks along and not recognize anyone. I looked at Chris and said, "Who are these people?" because it was seriously a completely different staff than we normally see. Regardless, my blood pressure was 122 over 68 (that top number keeps creeping up a bit with every appointment) and my weight was up another 2.5 pounds. I can't believe I'm gaining that in a week's time! I still don't have a huge appetite, so I don't even know how that's happening. My total weight gain is now 30 pounds (ugh . . . I really wanted to stay in the 20s), AND I officially surpassed what I weighed when I checked into the hospital to deliver Brianna. During L&D with her - due to a few complications - the nurses pumped like 6 bags of IV fluid in me, so who knows what I actually weighed when I delivered her.

Back to the appointment. I get bottoms-off and wait patiently for Megan to come in. She does a pretty thorough ultrasound and determines that Brenson looks really good. His heart rate was 148 bpm (Dr. N rarely tells us this number, so I was glad she did), he was practice breathing well, and I still have plenty of fluid. All great news! Then comes the fun part . . . the cervical check. For those of you that don't know exactly what this is, it is where the doctor (or PA in this case) physically feels your cervix with their hand to determine if you are dialating or effacing. Yes, that means they put their hand down there, and yes, it's painful. It's not the worst pain I've ever felt, but I certainly don't look forward to it.

The only reason I say all that is so that those of you who have never been through this understand a bit why I was so irritated with what came next. Dr. N's checks are short and sweet. He gets in, gets the job done, and gets out. Megan's initial check took almost a full minute . . . ummm, youch! And it didn't stop there. She wasn't able to get a good check, so she had to do it again. She kept apologizing over and over while I laid on the table with my eyes closed trying to breathe and relax. She just kept pushing and fishing around and it hurt waaaaaay worse than any check I've ever had before! Then, she looks at me and says, "I still couldn't really find your cervix. I'm going to have to try again. So sorry." She proceeds to check me a THIRD time . . . more painfully and longer than the first two times.

Chris was still in the room with Brianna, but he had her turned toward him watching videos on his phone. I was so glad she was oblivious to what was going on because at this point I was getting very frustrated and really having to concentrate to breathe through the pain.

After the third check, Megan apologizes again (and honestly, I felt kind of bad for her, too), and says that she's going to have to go get someone to help her. She leaves me laying on the table (still bottoms-off . . . yay :-) for about 15 minutes and returns with someone. I'm not even sure who it was except that I *think* it was another doctor in the practice. I've never met any of the other OBs in that practice so I'm not even sure. And guess what he wants to do?

Check me. Again.

Okay, deep breath. He checks me (much quicker than Megan's checks, thankfully). After the check, he says, "Well, your cervix is still very high, so you may be dialated to a 1 or 2, but who cares?"

Ummmm, hi. That would be me who cares. Cue Are you kidding me? look.

Then quickly follows that statement with, "Oh, I know you care. My point is just that even if you are dialated, nothing can happen while your cervix is still so high, so I didn't really bother to determine exactly where you might be. You'll just need to talk to Dr. N about it in a week."

And they both left the room.

I had to seriously sit on the bed for a minute and gather my composure. I know part of what I was feeling was probably hormones, but I was beyond annoyed and upset with the situation. It was a pretty hard week physically, and I was so ready for some good news (just that I was making a little progress . . . that's all I wanted). I also had a few questions that I needed answered, and they were both gone before I even had a chance to ask anything. Not to mention that with all those checks I felt like my lady parts were on fire. I definitely left the office feeling a little defeated.

So, like I said, this was a hard week physically. I'm really to the point where it's hard to roll over, get up and down (I have a toddler, so this is a MUST), sit for long, stand for long, etc. Sleep is terrible because my hips ache and I can't get comfortable. I'm still loving chocolate milk, and this week have really craved those little powdered white donuts. So odd. I have sudden bursts of energy where I can be super-productive, and other moments where I feel like a slug. I think I'm right on track!

I was extremely disappointed after the appointment, but I'm better now. I'm just going to keep walking and rocking and praying for sleep and hopefully things will start to progress on their own. I have reached the point where I'm really struggling to be patient, but I can do this! I am a little concerned with how big Brenson is going to get while we're doing all this waiting. At some point, he does have to come out of me, and I would prefer he not be 12 pounds when he does. There are several {little} things that I'm trying not to worry about too much, but that do pop into my thoughts. We're really in the homestretch now, so I'm determined to enjoy these last few days the best I can.

A little Saturday fun

2012-01-29T06:32:00.000-06:00

For the last 3 or 4 weekends (since the holidays), we've been busy spending our Saturdays preparing for Brenson's arrival . . . everything from finishing the nursery to cleaning the garage to setting up all the baby stuff to doing a major grocery/baby supplies shopping trip. Slowly but surely we have checked everything off of my many lists of tasks that I wanted completed before Brenson's arrival.

Last weekend, we deep cleaned the house and took a moment to exhale. That meant that this weekend, we had no necessary tasks left to complete and no plans. Yay!

Brianna has been having a bit of a hard time lately. She has been very clingy to both Chris and me, and has even had a few nights of interrupted sleep where she's woken up crying (for what reason exactly, we don't know). However, every day she asks us questions about Brenson, so I think her behavior is directly related to the fact that she knows big changes are coming but doesn't quite understand them completely. For example, one day last week she asked me if Brenson would sleep on Dada's pillow (she loves to lay on Dada's pillow . . . not sleep, just lay on it). She has also been saying, "My mama" and "My dada" a lot lately. I truly think that she will settle down and things will be better once he actually gets here and she sees that everything is okay.

Anyway, so we decided to spend the day hanging out as a family and soaking up these last few days of just the three of us. We both felt like Brianna needed it right now. I had already made plans to have Old Lady Breakfast with my college besties, so Chris took Brianna on a breakfast date this morning while I was with my friends. After breakfast, we met up and went to the local aquarium.

We had such a great time! Brianna absolutely loved the aquarium! We had our family photo taken in a photo booth . . . it took five different shots and we could choose one. Three of the photos were terrible for one reason or another, but the other two were really good. One was "perfect" . . . we were all looking AND smiling (lucky day!), and the other one was this:

I chose this one because it just makes me laugh. It shows Brianna's little personality and what a great time she had on our outing!

How tall is Brianna? Almost THREE feet! Wow!

These fish were swimming around and around in a circle, so Brianna is telling Dada in this photo, "They go round and round and round."

Here she is petting a starfish. This aquarium has 4 or 5 exhibits that are hands-on . . . very cool!

Here she is looking at the turtles. She loved this!

This exhibit had these beautiful bright blue, red, and yellow frogs. When Brianna saw this little guy, she said, "Ooooh, I love him!" Haha.

This is at another hands-on exhibit where she was petting a shark egg:

At this exhibit, you can buy food and feed the stingrays. We didn't buy any food ourselves, but we had fun watching others feed them. Brianna's expressions were priceless! She's saying, "Oooooooh" in this photo :-).

Here is a short video of yet another hands-on exhibit. These were also stingrays. They were moving through the sand on their "tummies" so that is what Brianna is telling us.

After grabbing a quick lunch, we got back home just in time for Brianna (and Momma *grin*) to take a nap. We had planned to go to a local basketball game that evening, but it ended up being postponed. Instead, we took a nice, long family walk. The weather was gorgeous (although a bit chilly . . . it is January after all).

One perk of going to the aquarium this morning is all the walking that we had to do. While I didn't really feel like doing more walking, I really want to see at least a little progress toward labor at our next appointment, and I know that walking can help with that.

Plus, I got to spend more quality time with my family. Win - win :-).

This day is one that I will cherish for a long time. It was great to just hit the pause button and spend time doing something fun together.

Random Rants

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-06:00

I have two completely random (albeit both marriage related) thoughts:

1) I use Swagbucks to earn free Amazon gift cards. If you've never heard of this, click here . . . I've earned over $200 in free Amazon gifts cards in the past year! Anyway, there are lots of ways to earn, and one way is by taking online surveys. I don't do this too often, but when I have a little time I try to qualify for these surveys. Part of the qualification process includes giving demographic information. One question relates to marital status. Many times, the survey administrator will group the options as follows:

Single
Married/Living with Partner
Divorced
Widowed

Every time I see Married and Living with Partner grouped together, it really gets under my skin! There is a huge difference in being married and not being married but living together. I think it's insulting to marriage to group it with living with partner.

2) Often in evening after we put Brianna to bed, we watch the 9:00pm news. After the news is over, Entertainment Tonight comes on and more often than not, we are distracted (because neither of us just sit and watch the TV while it's on . . . I'm usually on the computer as well) and don't change the channel. This week, there's been a lot of buzz about Kris Jenner and the affair she had while she was married to Robert Kardashian in the 90s. Oh, and yes, I'm more than a little ashamed that I actually know this information :-). Anyway, ET showed a clip of the guy with whom Kris had this affair. He said, "There's not much to say about it. It was adultery and there's shame in adultery. It's nothing to be proud of." THANK YOU Mr. Kris-Jenner's-former-lover for saying that. SO many times, Hollywood and the "stars" act proud of their affairs and say things to the effect of, "I was just following my heart . . . how can you fault me for that?" Statements like that make me sick. People should be ashamed of adultery! And thank you, also, for calling it what it was!

Random rants over :-)

More Nursery Crafting!

2012-01-26T07:12:00.069-06:00

Little by little, I've been completing projects for Brenson's nursery. I've shown a couple of the projects here and here. I hope it's not too annoying to you that I've only been revealing the nursery a bit at a time, but like I mentioned in another post, it won't be completely finished before he arrives because we are waiting on a few pieces of furniture. After it's all completed, I will do a post where I finally reveal the whole thing!

Okay, so this is the wall that you see when you first walk in the room. We hung these two small shelves and I needed something to put on them. I covered the paper mache' B with fabric, and also made the framed print.

Here is an upclose of the framed print:

My friend, Joy Lin, had seen something similar to this on Etsy and sent the photo to me in an email. I loved it, but wanted to tweak it a bit, so I made my own instead of ordering the one from Etsy. I printed the brown words on my printer, then cut the colored letters out of scrapbooking paper. I added a bit of ink, mounted it on blue paper, and framed it (in a 5x7 frame). I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

During a visit to my favorite store (The Hob Lob), I purchased an unfinished wooden B for the nursery. I had actually purchased a large gold B and spray-painted it, but it didn't turn out at all like I thought it would/should. The color was off and it needed some texture, but when I tried to add some dimension it just made it worse. Anyway, so I chunked that B and decided to cover this one is scrapbook paper, ribbon, and a few buttons instead. After 4 (yes, 4!) different versions, I finally settled on this one:

I can't remember the last time that I've had to do and redo a craft project so many times! I actually loved the first version, but it didn't look right with the frame. Then, the second version was too bright for the room . . . too much color for my taste. The third version was unbalanced looking, but I think I like this version pretty well. I won't say I love it, but I'm happy with it. I purchased the open-back frame at The Hob Lob (it's an 11x14 sized frame), added to ribbon to the top, and hung it all on the wall.

Finally, the curtains:

I couldn't find any window treatments that I liked for this room. I needed a full, black-out curtain for this room (it gets a ton of sun during the day and there is a pole light that shines in it during the night), so a valence would not work. All of the window treatments that I found online were too cutesy or too plain or too expensive, etc. Anyway, so I got this idea to buy plain brown black-out curtains from Wally World (very reasonably priced), a bit of ribbon and fabric from The Hob Lob, and put them together. My mom was kind enough sew the fabric and ribbon on the curtains for me, and I love the finished product!

Functional and cute (but not too cute!) . . . I wanted something with just a little color but not too much. These are perfect!

We also hung this little elephant hanger (purchased at Hobby Lobby . . . notice a trend?). I didn't make it or anything hanging on it, I just thought it looked so cute with Brenson's little coat and hats hanging on it!

Hopefully, the next nursery update I do will be a complete reveal! I am definitely happy with how things are coming together in there, so I can't wait to see it all finished!

The Bumpin' Belly

2012-01-25T07:11:00.001-06:00

Since very early in this pregnancy, I have been able to feel Brenson much stronger and more often than I was ever able to feel Brianna. With her, I had an anterior placenta so I didn't feel her at all until I was about 22 weeks along. I wonder if this is also why I never felt her quite as strong as I feel Brenson?

Regardless, Chris and I are amazed every day at how much we can see him moving from the outside. His kicks and movements are seriously SO strong. I've tried a few times to capture video of his movements, but have been unsuccessful. However, the other night, Chris was able to catch the following video.

Yes, we are easily excited when he moves :-). And even though it happens every single day, it still cracks me up! If you want to see him moving, you'll have to watch until about the middle of the video . . . he was camera shy at first.

2011 in Pictures

2012-01-24T07:00:00.002-06:00

I saw this on another blog and couldn't resist doing it myself. This post is of my favorite photos of 2011 (one from each month). I actually have a 2011 calendar that I've scrapped the top of with photos from that month, and I love having it! It amazes me to see how much Brianna has changed in one short, wonderful, amazing year!

January: Ringing in 2012!

February: Brianna turns 1 year old!

March: Celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the zoo!

April: Easter with our Sweet Pea

May: Mother's Day

June: Father's Day and finding out we were going to be a family of FOUR!

July: Making our big announcement :-)

August: Vacationing in San Francisco!

September: Visiting South Carolina!

October: Pumpkin Patch time!

November: Thanksgiving in Tennessee!

December: Celebrating Christmas and patiently waiting for baby brother :-)

What a great year!

Pregnancy Update: 38 weeks!

2012-01-23T11:07:00.001-06:00

Today, I am 38 weeks pregnant. We are getting SO close to the end of this pregnancy . . . and very anxious to meet our little guy! Here I am today:

And, at 38 weeks with Brianna:

This week was actually better than last week as far as me feeling more comfortable. I have very achy hips most days, but I feel like Brenson has dropped some and that means I can breath so much better. Yay! I had a few days of being really tired, but I also had several days that I had energy to get necessary things tied up, spend quality time with Brianna, and even cook dinner! I have been seriously slacking on cooking a decent dinner for the last several weeks (because let's face it, PB&J sandwiches or grilled cheese with canned soup DOES NOT count as cooking!), so Chris was grateful for some good meals.

I did have several days this week where I suffered from bad heartburn. This is very odd for me because I take a prescription acid reducer, so heartburn (even while pregnant) is rarely an issue. One night, it was so bad that there was no way any sleep was going to happen, so I just got up and started my day.

Brenson's nursery will not be completely finished before he arrives, and I am really okay with that. No, really, I am :-). However, it is put together as much as we can for now (we are waiting on part of his furniture), and I am very happy with how things have come together in there. I will post photos of a few projects that I recently completed for his room in a few days.

Chocolate milk has pretty much been the tastiest thing ever this week. I could drink 3 glasses a day if I'd let myself (but alas, I'm limiting myself to one glass a day *sad*). I have had very few food cravings this pregnancy - and food still hasn't been that appealing this week - but this chocolate milk kick has definitely been one of those it's-all-I-can-think-about-until-I-get-it things.

I have been congested for the last 10 or so weeks of this pregnancy (very normal during pregnancy because of swollen membranes), and I'll be so glad to be able to breath through my nose again! I always sleep with my mouth closed (strange information, yes?), but I haven't been able to for weeks now. This means I wake with a dry, sticky mouth, and generally with drool running down my cheek. Ick! I think my nose is also looking bigger these days (this happened when I was pregnant with Brianna, too), and my hands have been very swollen this week. It will be nice to recognize myself in the mirror again :-)!

We had our weekly appointment with Dr. N this morning. My blood pressure was 120 over 84, and I've gained 1.5 pounds since last week. My total weight gain is now 27 pounds. Brenson's head is more engaged than it was last week (so he has dropped a bit), but when Dr. N checked me he found that I still haven't made any progress as far as effacement or dialation goes. *Sigh*. I don't want to deliver today, but a little progress would be nice . . . if for no other reason than to see a small light at the end of this tunnel. He also estimated Brenson's weight to be 8 pounds and 1 ounce. Brianna weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces when she was born, so it seems that Brenson is going to be a bit bigger than her. However, I know those weight estimates can be waaaaaay off. Brianna loves going to the "baby doctor". Here we are waiting for him to come in today:

This is a terrible angle of me, but she looks cute :-)! Oh, and I think you can really see what I mean about my nose being swollen in this photo.

So, we have an appointment set for a week from today. I know it's possible that I won't make it until then, but Dr. N seems pretty confident that he'll see us again in the office!

Lunch Date

2012-01-20T07:00:00.001-06:00

I know I haven't been blogging too much lately. There's not a whole lot going on around here . . . we've been taking it pretty easy and just working on getting everything ready for Brenson's arrival.

Yesterday morning, I asked Brianna what she wanted for breakfast, and she replied with, "a cheeseburger." She seriously makes me laugh all the time! I didn't even know that she could say that word or really knew what a cheeseburger is, but apparently she does. So, I decided that we'd take a little lunch date to McDonalds and have a cheeseburger for lunch!

This may be old news to some of you, but we rarely eat at McDonalds (we did eat there on Christmas Eve, but haven't been there since), so I was surprised at the changes in Brianna's Happy Meal today.

Instead of coming with a little sack of fries, her Happy Meal came with a wee box of fries (why are things in small packages always so cute?) and a little bag of apple slices as well. It was so cute that I couldn't resist taking a photo :-).

Brianna's wee box of fries next to my big box (just what this pregnant Momma needed :-):

She thinks fries are YUMMY!

One of her favorite parts of a cheeseburger is the pickle. She loves pickles!

SO excited about our lunch date . . . we are so blessed that she is a GREAT eater!

I didn't know how the apple slices would compete with the fries, but she ate almost all of them. She is a big fruit eater . . . her favorites include grapes, oranges, and strawberries. She also loves applesauce. She asks for this at almost every meal.

I'm loving these special little times that we are having. My 23 month old child (yes, almost 2 years old!) is such a pleasure to be with. Love her!

Pregnancy Update: 37 weeks!

2012-01-16T23:50:00.000-06:00

Today, at 37 weeks, I am officially considered full-term! That means that Brenson can come at any time and would most likely be perfectly healthy. Yay!

Here is my 37 week baby bump:

Check out that belly button . . . UGH. Honestly, it probably bothers me more than it should, but I think it's really gross looking. And the possibility that it might not go back down after Brenson is born horrifies me more than a little bit. It is definitely worse at certain times (depending on how the baby is positioned), and this morning it was bad!

We saw Dr. N for our 37 week appointment this morning. My blood pressure was 120 over 68 (so still looking good), and I have gained 2.5 pounds since our appointment last week. Really?!? Two and a half pounds in one week? I guess I'm making up for the weight loss last week! My total weight gain is 25.5 pounds.

Brenson has dropped a bit, but his head isn't fully engaged yet. Dr. N did check me today, and I'm not effaced or dialated at all. He asked me if I was having any contractions and the answer to that is no as well. With Brianna at this point, I was SO anxious and impatient for things to get moving. However, this time, I am really okay that I'm not moving toward labor yet. I'm just trying to enjoy these next couple of weeks for the special time that they are and not rush anything. I want to soak up these last days that I have with just Brianna, try to rest a bit, and enjoy this last leg of pregnancy.

I forgot to mention that I had my first really bad leg cramps about two weeks ago. I had them two nights in a row, and they were bad enough that my muscles were sore the next morning. They came the two nights after we had done all of our travelling for the holidays, so I wonder if riding in the car brought them on? With Brianna, I had severe leg cramps pretty frequently for the last 8 to 10 weeks of my pregnancy, so I'm very happy that they have not been a problem this time. Again, I think it's the difference between sitting at a desk all day and chasing a toddler all day :-).

I still am not experiencing much swelling at all. Sometimes, after a busy day where I've been on my feet more than normal, I may have a bit of swelling in my ankles. However, for the most part, it hasn't been an issue at all. Sooooo completely different than when I was pregnant with Brianna and didn't see my feet or ankles at their normal size for like 3 months!

I have been extremely tired this week. This almost feels like the first trimester fatigue all over again (which, according to some books is totally normal). I told Chris that I don't remember feeling this way when I was pregnant with Brianna, but I think I was running on excitement, anticipation, and adrenaline. I am, of course, so excited this time around too, but I am also so much more relaxed feeling about everything. So maybe the adrenaline isn't there as much? Who knows . . . maybe it's just different for no reason :-). Also, my super-oily skin and acne has officially returned. It's so strange because my neck (as in under my chin and under my hairline in the back) is all broken out.

Chris and I were super-productive this past weekend and knocked a ton of things off of our "before baby comes" list. We did a major grocery/household items shopping trip to get our cabinets all stocked (why do I feel like I need 50 rolls of toilet paper in the house before I can have a baby???), sanitized bottles, nipples, pacis, and breast pump parts, moved furniture out of Brenson's room that didn't belong, packed the diaper bag, packed hospital bags, installed the infant car seat base, set up the Pack N Play in our bedroom (Brianna slept in this in our room until she was about 10 weeks old), organized Brenson's room a bit more, and decided where all his wall decor and such will be hung. Chris also did a bit of organizing/cleaning in the garage. I now feel so much more ready to bring a baby home!

Brianna wasn't sure what to think about all of the activity of the weekend. She is still asking tons of questions about "baby brudder". Lately, she has asked me several times if Brenson is going to sleep in her bed. She also wanted to know if he was going to be sleeping with her baby dolls. I asked her if she was worried that he was going to take her stuff, and she said, "Yes." Haha! She helped me pack his diaper bag and set up the Pack N Play and was very excited about it! I explained to her over and over that he would be sleeping in the Pack N Play, and I *think* that helped ease her mind that he wouldn't be in her bed.

Okay, wow . . . that was a long update!

Hospital Tour

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in my last pregnancy update that we had planned to take a tour of the hospital where I will be delivering. It is the same hospital where Brianna was born, but the maternity ward was under construction at that time and several changes have been made. Plus, we just wanted a refresher of where to go to check-in, park, etc.

We debated on whether or not to take Brianna with us when we went, and ultimately decided that she should go. The hospital offers a "Siblings Class", but the recommended ages are 4 to 6 years old, so I felt like Brianna was just too young for that. However, I wanted her to see the hospital and kind of get a feel for it before she is up there meeting her brother for the first time.

Right now, one of her most used phrases is, "Are we home?" when we are riding in the car. Really, I think she means, "Where are we going?" or "Are we almost there?" So, before the tour, we had gone out to eat dinner. When we got back in the car, she asked, "Are we home?" I explained to her that we weren't going home, but that we were going to hospital to see where the babies are born. She has a couple of books that talk about babies being born, but I wasn't sure what she actually understood. She was very quiet for a minute, then asked again, "Are we home?"

It takes about 35 minutes to get to the hospital from our house, and pretty much the whole way there she was asking us questions about the hospital and babies. I could tell that she was just trying to process the information. We kept telling her that the hospital is where we will go to get brother when he's ready to come home with us. She has started asking us tons of questions about brother everyday . . . clarifying things like where he will sleep and where he will ride in the car and if he will play with her toys. So, we know that she knows something big is happening soon and that she's just trying to process it in her own way.

Anyway, so the closer we got to the hospital, the more and more excited Brianna was getting. We finally realized that she thought we were going to get brother right then. Then, we had to explain to her over and over that we were just going to look at some babies tonight and that we would get brother on another day!

Here are Brianna and The Hubs anxiously waiting for the tour to begin . . . Brianna was beyond excited to see the babies!

The tour itself was pretty worthless. Well, I should say that the tour guide was terrible, but we did learn where we need to go to check-in when I am in labor so that was beneficial. The tour guide was a nurse that works in maternity and I'm not sure if she's new or if giving tours is just not her thing, but she was seriously not good at it. For example, when we passed the hospital cafeteria, she said, "This is the, ummm, cafeteria where you can go to get, ummm, food . . . and stuff." Then, when we went into a Labor and Delivery room, she said, "Sooo, this is the labor and delivery room where you will . . . labor . . . and, ummmm, deliver."

Also, one couple that was on the tour with us (who were obviously having their first baby whereas most of the rest of us were second-timers) asked a few simple questions about the rooms and such (like if they will stay in L&D or if they'll be moved to a different room after the baby is born), and the tour guide nurse stumbled and fumbled so much over the answer that she confused the whole room. I finally jumped in and gave the poor couple some actually useful information, and the crazy thing was that I think the tour guide was relieved!

So, on our fabulous tour, we walked by the newborn nursery but didn't really stop. After the tour was over, Chris and I took Brianna back up to the maternity ward and let her look at the babies in the nursery. There were about 6 babies in there so it was great timing, and Brianna loved seeing them! One baby was getting his diaper changed, and when Brianna saw his umbilical cord stump, she said, "Ewww, that belly button yucky!" One of the nurses saw us watching through the window and even brought one of the babies to the window for Brianna to really look at.

She was just fascinated and didn't want to leave. In fact, the next morning she even asked to go "See babies". I hope she's this excited when it comes time to bring Brenson home :-).

Overall, the tour was pretty much a waste of time. However, we did get a ton of samples of free stuff (score!), and I really think it was good for Brianna to see everything. I think she is really starting to understand (as best she can) that soon a baby will be coming to live at our house. I know for sure that she knows some BIG changes are getting ready to happen!

Potty Training . . . a post I've been putting off :-)

2012-01-12T07:00:00.151-06:00

I have been wanting to post about this for a while, but have been completely avoiding it!

Okay, deep breath . . .

Here goes.

We have potty trained Brianna.

This is something that has scared me since waaaaay before I was even close to being pregnant with her. I have just heard so many nightmarish stories about potty training, and no one seems to posses the secret to successful potty training for all children.

However, the real reason I've been avoiding a post on this subject is because the potty training has been going so well. I did not want to jinx myself by getting on here and spouting about how great it's going, only to have it all come crashing down the next day.

I guess I'm in a gambling mood.

So here goes :-).

We began the official process of potty training on Monday, November 28th (the Monday after Thanksgiving). I really felt like she had been ready for a while, but I kept putting it off because I didn't have any confidence in my ability to do it. Plus, I wanted to wait until after our big Thanksgiving trip.

The first day, she did so great. I showed her the panties that I had purchased (Dora and Minnie Mouse . . . two of her favorite characters), and explained that we had to keep them dry.

I guess I really need to rewind a bit. Back when Brianna was about 10 months old, we purchased a little padded potty seat that sits on top of the regular toilet, and began sitting her on it before bath time. I got this idea from my sister (who potty trained her little girl at 17 months old), and she had gotten the idea from our cousin. Anyway, we didn't push her to do anything at first . . . we just got her used to the process of sitting on the potty. Within a month or so, out of coincidence, she happened to actually go potty (combo of running bath water and the cold air works wonders!). We cheered and made a big deal about getting to use the toilet paper, and just made sure that she knew it was a good thing. She was right at a year old when this happened for the first time.

Gradually, over the next 6 months, she started going more and more frequently. Also, she would see me use the potty when we were out and about (and some at home), and would cheer for me when I was successful. So, before we ever began official potty training, she was very familiar with the process and what she was expected to do on the potty. I think this was absolute key to our success. She wasn't scared and the process wasn't new at all because she had been doing it before bathtime for months.

Okay, so back to the first day. I put her in panties, explained that we must keep them dry, and set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes. Then, I spent the whole day taking her potty every 15 minutes. It was tedious and tiring, but she did not have a single accident all day! She didn't go every time by any means, but I felt like we had to try that frequently to catch when she needed to go. I did try putting those plastic pants on her to help contain a potential mess, but she hated them. She wouldn't move with them on, so we scrapped them early on.

She continued to do great that entire week, and before long I began setting the timer for 20 minutes, then 25. She did have just a few accidents, but the only day she even had two on the same day was on Saturday. I'm pretty sure she wet her pants on purpose twice in a row . . . because afterwards she asked for a diaper. I think she was testing us. It was also very helpful that it really upset her when she had wet pants and panties. I know this does not bother some kids, but it did bother Brianna for sure.

After the first two weeks, we did have a major set-back because it was during that third week that we all got sick. Brianna especially was very sick with vomiting and diarrhea, so we kept her in a diaper for the entire week. On Monday, December 19th, I put her back in panties, but I had to start the timer at 15 minutes again. It was frustrating for me (getting anything accomplished is very difficult when you are taking a child to the potty every 15 minutes!), but by the end of the week she was definitely back in the swing of things and we were back to 25 to 30 minutes on the timer. I think we only had 2 accidents that whole week.

Since then, we have stopped using the potty timer altogether. I realized that I was creating a Pavlov's Dog situation one day when I set the timer on a casserole for dinner. The second it started going off, Brianna yelled "Potty!" and took off running to the bathroom. So, we gradually stopped using the timer and just started asking her if she needed to go. She is now really good about telling me when she needs to go, although if it's been over an hour I will usually ask her or make her go "try". She is especially good about telling us when she needs to poo, and I think it's been at least 4 weeks since I've changed a poopy diaper. Hooray!!!

She does use a Pull-up for naptime and nighttime, although she does wake up dry from nap some. Also, she has started waking in the night and telling us that she needs to go (she is just too little to hold it all night). While this is a bit frustrating, I don't want to discourage it. And she always goes when she wakes in the night telling us that she needs to. Chris is really brave about taking her in public in panties, but I am a bit more cautious about it. I do take her on short outings (to the store, to grab lunch, etc) in panties, but for longer outings I put her in a Pull-Up. The other night, we went to a Basketball game and I put her in a diaper. She was really upset about this, so maybe it's time to just let her wear panties and deal with a mess if we have to.

I think it is safe to say that she is for sure house and daytime potty trained. While I am so glad that we took the potty training plunge (hello saving money, less mess, and only one in diapers!), it was a ton of work for me at first. Taking her to the potty in public is a real pain. I've also had several people comment that when Brenson gets here she may magically become un-trained again. While I do understand that this is a possibility, we'll just cross that bridge if we come to it. I didn't want to put it off knowing she was ready just because she might regress.

Overall, I'm happy with how the process has gone, and so proud of our girl! So far, she has done fantastic with big transitions . . . we are so blessed!

Celebrating Christmas (so late, I know!)

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm so behind on my blogging that I'm just now getting around to blogging about our Christmas. However, I reference my blog all the time for information so I don't want to just skip blogging about the Holiday (even though I know that no one will really care about reading this . . . if you're like me, you are beyond finished with Christmas!). I'm going to sum up the entire holiday into one {very} long post, so bear with me if you decide to read :-).

Brianna was so cute during Christmas this year. She loved every aspect of it . . . from decorating the tree at home, to baking cookies, to looking at Christmas lights, etc.

We just enjoyed seeing the magic of the holiday through her eyes more than I can say!

Our little family celebrated Christmas in many phases again this year. We are so blessed to have so much family to celebrate with!

We began by travelling out to Chris's parent's house on Friday, December 23rd. We spent the night there, and on Saturday his grandparents came over to spend time with us as well.

We had a nice lunch, then Brianna opened a few gifts. These were really the first gifts she was allowed to touch and she had a GREAT time!

Brianna loves Chris's grandparents, and loved this doll they got her. It came with a bathtub (which is really the part she loved), so all the babies have gotten plenty of baths lately!

That evening (Saturday, December 24th), we drove home, relaxed a bit, then had our small family Christmas.

Brianna loved giving Chris his gift that she and I picked out for him:

She was also excited for me to open my gift from her. I love that she wanted us to open presents, too!

One gift we got her is the book Zin, Zin, Zin, A Violin. The facility where Brianna takes her music class is decorated with murals from this book, so I thought she would like it. I was right! She wanted to stop opening gifts to read the book right then. Love it!

We also had Brianna get one small gift for Brenson, as well as help us pick out something for his stocking. She enjoyed helping me open Brenson's present.

She was so excited when she saw that she received a new Cabbage Patch Baby! I wish I would have captured her face when she saw the baby, but I was too busy being in the moment :-).

This baby's name is Katrina Josie, and Brianna loves her. She immediately gave her kisses!

And what is the best part of opening Christmas presents? Playing in the paper and bows afterwards, of course! Where is Brianna?

Oh! There she is :-)!

And, here she is with all the gifts she received from us. We try really hard to not go overboard, and even though I thought I did really well, it still seems like she got a lot of stuff. Ack! Pictured here are all of her gifts: a shirt, two pairs of leggings, two new babies, a puzzle, a safari vehicle (that goes with the zoo), two books, and a Little People Zoo with animals.

After opening gifts, we spent about 45 minutes driving around looking at Christmas lights. Brianna loved looking at lights during the holiday season! She would shout, "Look! Pitty lights right dere!" and "Pitty lights . . . I see 'um." After looking at lights for a bit, we went to McDonalds for dinner. Lame for Christmas Eve, I know, but I was too exhausted to cook (did not sleep at all the night before and just no stamina with being so pregnant). It was actually kind of fun . . . Brianna thought it was great!

I know this post is already sooooo long, but I have to tell this story. When we got home from eating, we began Brianna's bedtime routine. She had been a bit stuffed up all day, and right before we began our nightly devotional, she picked a {huge} booger out of her nose. This was a first, and she was pretty fascinated with it. Of course, as a reaction, Chris and I were both like, "Whoa that was quite a booger!" Anyway, so we sang a few songs then asked Brianna what she wanted to thank God for that night. With the most serious little face, she replies, "My booger." I was so worn out at this point, and this was more than I could take! I started giggling and COULD NOT stop. She was just SO serious about it! Of course, the giggles were contagious and before we knew it we were all laughing and giggling uncontrollably. It was one of those moments I hope to never forget . . . love these memories we are creating!

Okay, back to Christmas :-). On Sunday, December 25th, we got up and went to church like we always do on Sunday. I had put lunch in the crockpot, so after the service we came home, ate lunch, then loaded the car and headed to my parents house to see my brother and his family. After a short evening church service, we all ate dinner at my parents' house, then opened gifts there.

For years (like probably 8), I have taken a family photo of my brother and his family on this couch during the holidays. I CANNOT believe how big my niece and nephew are getting!

They gave us a few outfits for Brenson (which are very cute). One thing that I really appreciate is that they purchased older sizes (you get so many little sizes at first, ya know?). One outfit included these shorts that Brianna is wearing in the photo below. She thought they were just for her and couldn't wait to put them on!

Brianna received several cute outfits, a Dora suitcase that she LOVES, two Dora hooded towels that my mom made her, a body pillow that she also loves, and a few other small gifts.

Brianna and her "older" cousins:

My brother and his family had to head home the next day (Monday, December 26th), so we went back home then as well. I wanted to get Christmas all down and put away (I'm one of those people that can't wait to get Christmas down after it's over), and Chris needed to go cut wood for his grandparents (something he does about once a month).

Two days later, on the afternoon of Thursday, December 29th, we drove back to my parents' house to see my sister and her family. The scheduling just didn't work out where we could all be there at the same time :(.

We rang in the new year playing a few games and going to bed before midnight :-). What can I say? I was just too exhausted to stay up!

On Sunday, January 1st, we all went to church together. Of course, I wanted to get a few photos of the girls looking cute in their dresses. This proved to be next to IMPOSSIBLE. I did get this one okay shot:

Mom and I literally tried for like 20 minutes to get a good photo. Brianna was so over it and needed some comfort from her cousin, haha! They have a very love/hate relationship. They like to hug and defend each other, but they also like to fight over toys and push each other. *sigh*

Of course, it doesn't help that Brianna is always in Chloe's space. She just has no boundaries, and Chloe doesn't really appreciate that!

I think this photo is cute even though I'm definitely sporting the "pregnant face" look. Oh well, I was 35 weeks pregnant in this photo!

Whew! It took me a week to recover from all of this. I would not recommend this much travelling to anyone who is this pregnant, but I just couldn't say no to seeing family! I just don't get to see them enough to miss an opportunity.

I know this is way late, but I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well!

Pregnancy Update: 36 weeks!

2012-01-09T11:15:00.000-06:00

As of today, I am 36 weeks pregnant . . . also officially 9 months along! I seriously can't believe it.

Here is a photo of the baby bump this morning:

And, my 36 week baby bump with Brianna:

I think she had already dropped by this point, but he certainly has not.

We had an appointment with Dr. N this morning. I found out that my Group B Strep test was negative, which is no big deal either way but it is one less thing to worry about now. My blood pressure was 112 over 68 (more normal for me than last time), and my weight gain was minus 2 pounds. That's right, I actually lost weight. I know that this is normal for many women later in pregnancy, but it never happened with Brianna. I gained right up until I delivered with her, so I was surprised! My total weight gain is now 23 pounds. I currently weigh 5 pounds less than I weighed when I delivered Brianna, so I am hoping to stay under that number.

The nurse had me prepare to be "checked" at this appointment, but Dr. N didn't end up checking me. When he did the ultrasound, Brenson's head was still "floating" which means that most likely there is no dialation or effacement happening yet. When Dr. N showed us this, I said, "So this means there's really no point in checking me, right?" to which Dr. N replied, "Probably not, so we'll skip it this time." Whoo-hoo!

I have been very fatigued and nauseous off and on this week. Sleep has been pretty terrible again. The other night, Brenson was in my ribs and lungs and I felt like I couldn't breathe (and therefore couldn't sleep either). It was one of those moments (which have been very few and far between for me) that I'm ashamed to say I thought, "Okay, I'm over this whole pregnancy thing." Fortunately, it was a pretty fleeting moment and for the most part, I'm still enjoying being pregnant. Of course, I'm always thankful to be pregnant after everything that we've been through to get here, so I try really hard to be positive even in the harder moments.

This past weekend, we set up a few baby things around the house (like the swing). We also went shopping and purchased everything that we think we'll need for when Brenson gets here. I'm sure there are a few things that we've forgotten, but I feel much more prepared now. I'll be packing hospital bags this weekend (hopefully), and we plan on installing the car seat base this weekend as well. Tonight, we are taking a hospital tour, so that's exciting. When I delivered Brianna, the maternity ward was under construction. It's all finished now, but much different than before so we felt like a tour was in order.

I feel so much less anxious this time around, and that is really nice. Knowing more what to expect is very helpful :-)

There is a lot of blog catching-up that I have to do, so hopefully I can make that happen this week! I kind of hate it that my blog is becoming nothing but pregnancy updates.

Happy Monday!

Pregnancy Update: 35 weeks!

2012-01-04T22:30:00.001-06:00

This past Monday marked the completion of my 35th week of pregnancy. I wanted to wait until today to post the update because I had an appointment with Dr. N this afternoon.

Here I am today at 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant:

And here I am at 35 weeks pregnant with Brianna:

I purposely wore the same shirt, but had to flip the second photo for better comparison. I think I look about the same in these photos.

All of my appointments have been on Monday during this pregnancy. However, the office was closed this past Monday due to the holiday, so that's why I had a Wednesday appointment. In the 2 weeks and 2 days since my last appointment, I've gained 1 pound. I couldn't believe it! Since Christmas was during those 2 weeks, along with the fact that I had an afternoon appointment instead of a first-thing-in-the-morning appointment, I was expecting a larger weight gain than that! I'll take it for sure though :-). That puts my total weight gain at 25 pounds.

My blood pressure was 118 over 78. While that's perfectly fine, it's a bit higher than mine normally runs.

I had to have my Group B Strep test today, which consists of a quick swab of the down under area. That meant it was a bottoms-off appointment. Ick. The rest of the appointments from here on out will probably be bottoms-off. Brianna was with us (like she always is) during the appointment and was a bit confused as to why I was undressing. She said, "Momma go potty?" Later this evening on the way home from Bible class, she said, "Baby doctor." We said, "Yes, we went to see the baby doctor today didn't we?" She replied, "Momma pants off." Haha . . . I guess that made quite an impression on her :-). I'm not sure when I'll find out the results of the test.

Dr. N talked to me a little about my belly button. He said that it is a hernia and may or may not go back down completely after I give birth. He also rubbed and massaged it a bit to push it in and make sure it was soft (which it is). It doesn't stick out quite as much now as it did before. He said that depending on what it does after I give birth, I may have to have surgery to have it repaired. I'm not worrying about that now . . . we'll just wait and see what happens.

Our ultrasound today was very short and sweet. Brenson is still head down (and should not turn at this point, so that's a good thing!). He was very active, and his heartbeat sounded good and strong. I can't get over how active he is for long periods of time during the day (and wee hours of the morning, too). His kicks and movements are way harder than I ever remember Brianna's being. Sometimes they take my breath away and often they are painful. Brianna loves to feel my belly lately, and he always reacts big to her {generally cold} little hands. She will pull up my shirt, put her hands on my belly, and say "kicking?" It makes us laugh.

We are on to every week appointments now, and our next appointment is first thing Monday morning. I really wanted to get back to Monday appointments even though that makes this one and the next only 5 days apart.

I have lots of blogging to catch up on, so hopefully I'll be back soon!

The Perfect Family

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm largely pregnant and obviously showing, I am constantly being asked by people I don't know, "When are you due?"

This question is generally followed closely by, "Do you know what you're having?" (in my head, I always think "a baby" but I'm not brave enough to say this out loud :-).

While I certainly don't mind either one of these questions (actually, I like talking about Brenson and my pregnancy), sometimes peoples' responses can really irritate me. The most common responses that Chris and I have heard lately when telling people that we are expecting a baby boy have been:

"Oh, a girl and a boy . . . the perfect family"

"One of each! How lucky you are!"

"That's great! Now you can be done!"

I mean, seriously??? We have heard SO MANY of these comments, and I think each and every one are inappropriate. Who says that one girl child and one boy child makes the perfect family? Is a family with only one child, or no children, or five children somehow imperfect because it's not just one girl and one boy? "Perfect" is so relative, and what is perfect for you may not be perfect for me.

As far as the "lucky" comment goes, I don't like the word lucky in reference to my amazing blessings from God. However, what really bothers me about this statement is that I wonder if people would consider us "unlucky" if we were having another girl instead of a boy? If so, how messed up is that? How could what God decided to give us be "unlucky" in any way?

Also, I hate it when people say "now you're done" or "now you can be done". Honestly, Chris and I hope to have more children after this. I have said to a few people, "Oh, we may not be done" or "We're keeping our options open" and you should see the looks we get! Just because we have "one of each" doesn't mean that other people can dictate whether or not we're "done". That is between us and God. Do we know if we'll be blessed with more children? No. Do we hope and pray to be blessed with more children? Yes. And that is our business and our choice and our dream . . . nobody else gets a say (except God, of course).

If a girl and boy is the perfect family for you, then I think that's wonderful. However, I know several families that are made up of 3 or 4 girls, or 3 or 4 boys, or a mixture of both girls and boys, and I never look at them and think "imperfect". I think "how wonderful" and "how blessed". I hate that our society judges people for having (or wanting) "large" families. And, I hate the comments we get about being "done".

What are your thoughts on this? I'd love to hear from you!

Pregnancy Update: 34 weeks!

2011-12-26T20:00:00.001-06:00

Today, I am officially 34 weeks pregnant! That means that we'll {most likely} have a baby in 6 weeks or LESS! Whoo-hoo!

We had a great Christmas, and now it's time to concentrate on Baby! As soon as we get Christmas packed up (that's tomorrow's task), we're going to start getting out the big baby things. I'm excited to see the swing, pack-n-play, baby bathtub, etc all set up again. I have lists of tasks that need to be finished each week from now until I'm 38 weeks, so hopefully we will be able to stick with the schedule and get everything done.

Brianna is talking more and more about "baby brudder". I think she knows that BIG things will be happening soon. Tonight, she had a little flashlight that she had gotten for Christmas. She brought it over to me, lifted my shirt, and rubbed it on my belly just like she was giving me an ultrasound. Haha! She goes with me to every doctor's appointment (and I get an ultrasound at every appointment), so she knew exactly what to do. She even said, "There he is", "He's over here", and "Looks good!" It was cracking us up!

Brianna's "big" Christmas gift from us was a zoo complete with animals. She's all about animals right now, so she loves it. Anyway, when she was opening the animals, she took the giraffe, said "Brenson's room" and put it in there. I guess the giraffe theme in his room is obvious :-).

My appetite is still mediocre at best, but with all the sweets and junk I've eaten these past couple of weeks, I'm SURE I've gained weight. I'm still not experiencing any major cravings, although sometimes I do really want meat (and that is very strange for me). At this point in my pregnancy with Brianna, I craved Oreo cookies and chips & salsa. I wanted both of those things morning, noon, and night. I think that *could have* been a contributing factor to the 42 pound weight gain :-).

Sleep has been terrible lately, but I know that's just part of the deal. I usually sleep well for about 3 hours, then wake up and am awake for about 2 hours, then go back to sleep for 2 to 3 hours. Some days, I squeeze a nap in while Brianna is napping, but I try not to do that unless I am just exhausted as napping makes night-time sleep even worse. I can certainly tell that I am more fatigued lately, so maybe sleep will come soon?

Only a few more of these updates left!

From our family to yours. . .

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

XOXO!

December Fun: Meeting Santa

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, MeMe (The MIL) and I took Brianna to see Santa. She loves things in costume (remember the Hillcat), so I figured we would have no problems meeting Santa. However, because I knew kids can be unpredictable at times, I did spend some time talking to her about meeting Santa.

I told Brianna that he was nice and that she would sit on his lap and that would ask her about what she wants for Christmas. Up until that point, we hadn't really ever asked her what she wanted for Christmas, so I took that opportunity to ask, "What are you going to tell Santa you want for Christmas?" Do you know what the child said?!? She looked right at me and said, "A dog!" Ei-yi-yi!!! I am soooooo not a dog person, but it seems that Little Miss is.

So, while standing in line to see Santa (we had to wait about 15 minutes), she was so excited. She told me she would sit on his lap and smile for the photo, etc. However, when we actually got up there, this was all we could get:

She did sit on Santa's lap and she didn't cry, but there was no way she was going to smile! She also would not talk to him. I was so surprised! This is the child that talks to all kinds of random people everywhere we go.

After we were at a safe distance, she did wave over to Santa and say, "Bye Santa. See you later!"

Stinker :-).

December Fun: Sugar Cookies!

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not much of a baker, and I've never really like cooking either. I do cook a lot though because I have to. Brianna loves being in the kitchen and helping me while I cook. And when I won't let her help, she cooks up a storm in her little play kitchen.

So anyway, a few weeks ago we decided to make sugar cookies. I bought pre-made dough (yes, totally took the lazy way), and while it tasted super-good it was a real pain to use! Brianna didn't care though, she jumped right in and had a great time rolling it out and using the cookie cutters. In fact, she didn't really want help from me. She's an independent one!

Rolling out the dough:

Checking to make sure she was doing it okay:

She loved using the cookie cutters!

So many fun shapes :-)

Getting ready to put them in the oven. She actually wanted to do that herself as well, but I drew the line! Waaaaaaay too little for that still!

We did frost and eat them after they finished baking. They all completely lost their shape during the baking process and came out looking like a bunch of blobs, but they tasted yummy! Brianna is funny . . . she's not much of a sweets eater, so she didn't really care about eating them. No worries though, I stepped up to the plate to make sure they weren't wasted *grin*.

December Fun: Giving A Little

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite holiday traditions is one that my college besties and I began about 5 years ago. We've always gotten together during Christmastime and celebrated in some way. However, we decided that instead of spending money buying each other a bunch of stuff we do not need, we would do something for someone else with our money and time.

So, every year since then we have "adopted" someone to buy gifts and necessities for during the holiday season. This year, we adopted a set of brothers that attend the school where one of the besties is a teacher. On the same day that we got together to shop for the brothers, we also decided to volunteer our time packing holiday care packages for soldiers.

We started off the morning by meeting for breakfast at the local Village Inn. We called it our "old lady" breakfast :-). We were {by far} the youngest people there.

Angie & Amy

We were all looking a bit tired . . . it was early!

Chelley & Kendall

After breakfast, we went and packed care packages. We didn't pack all of these ourselves, but we did work hard for several hours!

After box packing (and a running-out-of-gas incident in the middle of busy Christmas traffic . . . yikes!), we headed to Target to shop for the brothers. Shopping is always fun . . . we were able to buy them both several outfits, some winter gear (including coats), and a few toys from their wishlist.

Amy with the loot:

As always, we had a fantastic time together. I hope that we continue this tradition for a very long time. Even though what we do isn't huge, we hope that we are making a difference in someone's life.

Don't forget to give a little of yourself this season!

December Fun: Brianna's Christmas Tree

2011-12-21T07:35:00.004-06:00

During the holiday season, I like the house to feel festive. I don't go completely overboard decorating, but we certainly put up our fair share. This year, my sister bought her little girl a pink Christmas tree for her bedroom, and that inspired me to buy a purple Christmas tree for Brianna's room.

Brianna was with me when I purchased the tree ($20 at the local Wally World and it's prelit . . . can't beat that!). Since this is the first tree we set up in the house (and yes, we put it up before Thanksgiving *gasp*), she didn't really understand what I meant when I said we were putting a tree in her room. However, once we started to set it up, she got super excited!

Helping Daddy fluff the tree:

Examining the lights:

We bought just a few small ornaments for the tree at first. I'm actually really glad we only bought a few because she has since gotten several sets of small ornaments as gifts.

Daddy helping Brianna hang the ornaments on the tree:

Making a few more adjustments:

Loving the "pitty lights" in her room!

And, the finished product:

We did end up getting her a foot switch to turn the tree on and off because I caught her trying to plug it in herself one day after we had gotten home from the store. Eeeeek! With the foot switch, she can safely turn it on and off herself . . . which she loves to do.

Her purple tree looks so perfect and festive in her room. Love it!

December Fun: Christmas Wreath

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Way back when (in Septemberish), my sister made a beautiful Autumn rag wreath. I liked it so much that I had her help me make one during our South Carolina visit in October.

On Chris's side of the family, the adults do not exchange Christmas gifts. While it's nice to not have to worry about what to get everyone, I kind of hate that we don't get his parents anything for Christmas. I mean, I actually like giving people gifts.

So this year, I decided that I would make something for his parents around Christmastime just because I wanted to gift them something. The rag wreath immediately came to mind! Although it's pretty much for his mom more than his dad, I knew she'd like it and that made me happy.

I began with one yard of four different patterns of fabric (purchased at my favorite store . . . the Hob Lob). Using pinking shears, I cut the entire yard of fabric into strips:

As you can see, the strips are not perfectly the same length or even cut straight. It doesn't have to be perfect :-). My kind of project!

Then, I chose 3 colors of tulle and cut 32 strips of each color. Again, not worrying about it being perfect in any way.

I purchased a wire wreath hoop at Hobby Lobby and began tying the strips of fabric and tulle on the hoop at random:

I was so happy with the finished project that I went and purchased enough supplies to make myself one as well! My Autumn wreath does not have tulle in it, but it adds just the right amount of sparkle for a Christmas wreath.

Here is the finished product hanging on my wall:

Love!

Pregnancy Update: 33 weeks!

2011-12-19T21:45:00.000-06:00

Today, I'm 33 weeks pregnant . . . less than 50 days to go!

This is me at 33 weeks with Brianna:

I like my hair so much better in the pic where I'm pregnant with Brianna. I need a haircut, haha!

We had an appointment with Dr. N first thing this morning. I was surprised that I had gained 2 pounds because I was sick with stomach issues most of last week and ate very little (and didn't keep down much of what I did eat). That puts my total weight gain at 24 pounds. Hopefully, I'll stay on track to stay under what I gained with Brianna. So far, so good! My blood pressure was 118 over 70, so that is still good as well.

Brenson is head down, and I hope he stays that way! Brianna was breach until 36 weeks (I think), so there was talk of scheduling a C-section with her, and that's really not what I would prefer. Dr. N joked about what a photogenic baby Brenson is because today he had his face buried in the placenta. I've pretty much given up on a good face shot, and am content to wait until his birth day to see his precious face.

When the nurse called us back for the appointment, Brianna got so excited that she jumped out of the chair she was sitting in in the waiting room and took off running to the nurse. It was so funny! She was ready to see the "baby doctor". She kept saying she was going to give him a high-five, but once he came in the room, she decided against that. The appointment was fast (although the wait was long) and uneventful . . . which I am thankful for! I had too many eventful appointments with Brianna, so I'll take these standard, boring appointments any day.

Who can believe Christmas is in 5 days???

As seen in my dishwasher...

2011-12-17T07:14:00.000-06:00

Sometimes, interesting little things somehow make their way into my dishwasher . . .

. . . things like plastic letters or play dishes or even one of Santa's reindeer . . .

I guess he needed a bath *grin*.

The Mean Ole Fox

2011-12-16T07:00:00.001-06:00

As part of Brianna's bedtime routine, we sing three songs and say a prayer each night before we put her in bed. She loves to sing, so this is one of her favorite times of the day. We let her choose which songs she wants to sing, and lately one song that she has been choosing every single night has been the "Box Song". It goes like this:

The devil is a mean ole fox
If I could I'd put him in a box
Put him in a box and throw away the key
For all those tricks he's played on me.
I love Jesus
I love Jesus
I love Jesus
And I love Him more each day.

It has cute little motions that Brianna likes to do, and she loves to say "Devil mean ole fox".

After we sing, we'll generally ask her some questions. Questions such as, "Who do we love?" (and she'll say, "Jesus!") and "Who is a mean ole fox?" (and she'll say, "the devil!").

Well, last night she was mad at Daddy because he had just brushed her teeth while getting her ready for bed (she hates having her teeth brushed). So, when I asked her, "Who is a mean ole fox?", she promptly replied, "Daddy!"

Then, went "Heh-heh" in a really naughty sort of way.

Oh. my.

Hillcat Basketball

2011-12-15T07:00:00.003-06:00

You may remember that Chris and I are big fans of our local college basketball team. For the past several years, we have been season ticket holders and have attended {almost}every home game, as well as a few away games.

Last year, Brianna loved going to the ball games and cheering on our Hillcats! While we haven't made it to quite as many games this year, we have all enjoyed the ones that we have attended.

Every game, a few spectators are asked to play a game or two sponsored by local business. Usually, this is done during half-time and some full time-outs. Recently, Chris was asked to play one of the games. He had 30 seconds to try and make a lay-up, free throw, 3 point shot, and half court shot. With every shot he made, he won a progressive prize from Papa John's Pizza. Had he made the half court shot, we would have won pizza for a YEAR. Ummm, BLECH! Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about that :-).

When he went out onto the court during one of the full time-outs to play the game, Brianna got SO excited. She said, "Ooooh, DADDA!!!" while pointing and cheering for him. He ended up making the lay-up and the free throw, winning us a free medium pizza (so, dinner one night . . . not too bad). I would NEVER have agreed to go shoot the ball in front of the entire crowd, but that sort of thing doesn't bother The Hubs.

Hands down, Brianna's favorite part of the games is The Hillcat. She just loves him! I love this cute photo of her staring at him!

Our team is doing really well so far this year. It's so much more fun to watch games when your team is winning! :-)

Look what . . .

2011-12-14T07:02:00.000-06:00

. . . came in the mail last week:

Eeeeek! I LOVE seeing his name in writing *grinning ear-to-ear*.

Even more, I love seeing FOUR stockings hanging about!

There were so many years of just two stockings . . . with lots of wondering . . . will there ever be more? I was a little scared . . . to order one for Brenson . . . would it be a bad omen? I took a leap of faith . . . and am so glad I did.

It makes my heart smile.

Family Photos

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

Soooo, a while back (like September 8th!) we took Brianna to have her 18 months photos taken, and had a few family shots taken while we were at it (our photographer is Shea Casey). I have been horrible about getting family photos done, pretty much because I don't usually love photos of me so why pay money for them?

Brianna is not generally the most cooperative child when it comes to photos. Consequently, while there are several of these photos that I like, there aren't really any that I love. But, I'm still glad to have them!

We started the session indoors in this pretty little dress. I like this photo okay, although not especially thrilled with the coloring.

This photo pretty much sums up how Brianna feels about getting her photo taken. Haha!

Sweet face :-):

Allllllllllllllllllllllmost a smile. Almost.

Then, we went outdoors to take a few more photos. I am a little over 18 weeks pregnant in these pics . . . which is enough to have a pooch, but not enough to look pregnant. So, I'm sporting the chubby look :-).

Love my little family!

Do you think we love this little girl much?

I like this pose the best . . . wish my face didn't quite look so chubby :(.

We also had a few pics taken of just B. This one is probably my favorite:

Who can resist cute boots?

I love how she still looks like she has a baby face in this one:

She was sooooo not thrilled to be sitting in the grass, haha!

But, it grew on her. Soon, she was rolling all around in it!

I'm going to try and be better about having family photos taken. I know I will cherish them later on!

Pregnancy Update: 32 weeks!

2011-12-12T07:10:00.000-06:00

Today, I am 32 weeks pregnant. We had a really good weekend until Saturday night when Brianna came down with some sort of stomach bug. She threw up 14 different times between 11:30pm on Saturday and 6:00am on Sunday. Yes, 14! Needless to say, sleep was out of the question Saturday night, and Sunday was spent doing load after load of laundry, febreezing everything in sight, and of course cuddling my sweet baby girl.

So, for that reason, I had Chris purposely cut my head off in this week's belly pic. I look like death and have ZERO energy to change that. But, here is the belly:

On the pregnancy front, this week was pretty uneventful. I did notice that I don't have the energy I used to for running errands and such. I'm pretty worn out after a couple of stops. Fortunately, I have *almost* all of my Christmas shopping finished (and plan to complete the last little bit online). I also have all of the gifts wrapped and under the tree. We keep things pretty low-key when it comes to gifts during Christmas, but it still feels good to have that finished.

Last night, I officially pre-registered with the hospital and for my epidural. I'm so glad to be able to check that off of my list as well! Slowly but surely I feel like I am making a bit of progress with the things that need to be completed before the end of January.

My appetite has been really hit and miss lately. Food in general just does not sound good to me. This is the exact opposite of how I was when I was pregnant with Brianna at this point (everything sounded good!). It's just so interesting how different this pregnancy is from my last one.

Brenson is still moving like crazy all the time. Sometimes it's a little painful, but I still love it! The movements are big rolls and shifts now more than little kicks and flutters. He has had the hiccups a lot recently (almost daily). Chris feels him almost every day, though he calms down a lot when Chris puts his hands on my belly. Brianna used to do the exact same thing.

Well, that's my boring old update for the week. I think that when (and if) I'm ever pregnant again, I'll only do these updates every other week. They are a little tedious :-).

I hope you're enjoying your Monday!

Therapeutic Funny

2011-12-10T19:51:00.000-06:00

My brother - who is a therapist for teenage boys who have addiction and anger management issues - recently sent this video to me. He said, "Finally, some therapeutic tactics I can understand." Haha!

Enjoy!

Bed Transition Part 2

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

You may remember that we transitioned Brianna to a toddler bed a couple months ago. The transition was okay . . . a little rough at first, but it didn't take her long to adjust. We had planned on leaving her in the toddler bed until the first of December, but ended up needing a full-sized bed for company in the middle of November.

We really talked up having a big bed with Brianna, and I even took her with me when I purchased her new bedding. She was so excited about her new "bankets"! After converting her crib into a full-sized bed, she couldn't wait to sleep in it!

It's a little too high for her to climb up onto by herself right now, but she still loves it!

Who's excited about their new bed?!? Brianna is!

She slept in it for the first time all night on November 14th, and did GREAT! In fact, we have had ZERO problems with her being in a big bed. She has not fallen out or gotten out of it without permission one time. Doesn't she look tiny in that big bed *sigh*?

I have truly been shocked at what an easy transition this has been . . . but feel SO BLESSED that she is so easy-going. We had purchased a removable bed rail for it, but since she obviously doesn't need it we took that back to the store.

I'm a little sad that she's in a big bed so soon, but it's what we need to do right now. And since she doesn't mind at all, that certainly makes it easier on me.

Ummm . . . Thanksgiving?

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm working really hard to get caught up on all my blogging and *almost* completely forgot to blog about our Thanksgiving holiday! I'm pretty sure that I did this exact same thing last year. Does anyone else get through Thanksgiving then just hit the ground running in December?

This year, we traveled to my brother's house for Thanksgiving. He and his family live not far from Memphis, Tennessee, which should be about an 8 1/2 drive for us. I say should be because this year it took us quite a bit longer than that! I think it took us 10 hours to get there and close to 12 hours on the way home. There were lots of reasons for this . . . weather (fog on the way there and rain on the way home), a toddler, and a pregnant Momma (who had to make frequent stops). Brianna was FANTASTIC in the car. I couldn't believe how good she was. She was definitely the least grumpy of the three of us on the way home :-).

The host family:

My parents also traveled there from Missouri:

And, my sister and her family came in from South Carolina:

It worked out so well for us all to able to meet in a somewhat central location!

My parents didn't get in until Thursday around 1:00pm, so we didn't have our big Thanksgiving meal that day. We hung out at the house, played games, and ate barbeque for dinner.

On Friday, we started cooking our Thanksgiving meal first thing in the morning. The smaller girls did a fun Turkey craft to help keep them occupied while they waited for dinner.

Cousin Kay helped Brianna with the craft:

Chloe Jo showing off her turkey:

During dinner (which was super yummy!), we all went around the table and told what we were thankful for. This is something we do pretty much every time we are together (Thanksgiving or no), and I love this tradition. Sometimes, we tell what we appreciate about each person instead of what we're thankful for, which is a great thing as well.

After dinner, we headed to a local State Park to play and take photos. It was great to be out in the fresh air after having all been in the house for several days together.

The big kids swinging with the littles:

Brianna is fearless on the playground equipment. It makes Momma's heart jump!

JT joined in on the fun:

Chloe Jo preferred the slide to any other activity:

Kaylee striking a pose:

Even the big boys climbed all over the playground equipment! Clowns!

All of us "big" kids decided to squeeze on this bench for a photo. I was just waiting for one of us to pop right out!

On Saturday, we all got up pretty early and one by one hit the road for home. Russ and Lisa left earliest (as they had the farthest to drive), then we left around 10:00am, and Mom and Dad left a bit later. Like I said above, it took us FOREVER to get home, and I was soooooo sore the next day. My back did not like riding in the car that long while being pregnant! However, we had such a good time that it was completely worth it!

We always have so much to be thankful for!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T07:04:00.002-06:00

{Daddy's shoes} {Momma's phone} {Brianna's attitude}

:-)

Project Mode: Nursery :-)

2011-12-06T07:17:00.000-06:00

I promised you all that I'd show you a couple more things that I've been working on for Brenson's nursery. I've had a lot of fun planning his room and can't wait until it's all finished!

We have always had a lamp in Brianna's room, and it's been an important part of her night-time routine. She knows that when the overheard light goes off and the lamp comes on, it's time to start winding down for the night. I want to have the same signals/routine with Brenson. However, this is the lamp that was in the spare bedroom (now his room):

Not exactly what I had in mind for a baby boy's nursery, you know? So, I began looking for a new lampshade . . . and couldn't find anything that I liked AND was willing to pay the price for. I decided that I could easily make my own lampshade, so I added it to my project list.

I started with a self-adhesive lampshade purchased from the Hob Lob with a 40% off coupon (I think I paid $6 for it after the coupon), 3/4 of a yard of giraffe print fabric (also from Hob Lob), and the blue trim pictured below.

Honestly, the self-adhesive lampshade was pretty worthless as I ended up hot gluing the fabric at the seam and around the edges anyway, BUT it came with this template for the fabric which was really helpful!

After cutting out fabric according to the template, I hot-glued it on the lampshade. It was a very simple process . . . took maybe 15 minutes.

I thought the shade looked a little blah, so I decided to add the blue trim I had picked out when planning the project. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that I pretty much hated the way it looked, and decided to go with some leftover brown ribbon from Brenson's mobile project.

I hot-glued it around the top and bottom of the shade, and am very happy with how it looks!

After purchasing a new lamp base from Lowe's, I love the way it turned out (the silver lamp base was well-worn and just didn't look as good with the shade and other room decor). I think it looks great with the wall color!

I also purchased the cute frame in the photo above . . . I couldn't resist :-). Oh, and I'm not sure yet what we are going to do about a small table for the lamp and frame, but we won't be using the one pictured. We're still working on it.

With the leftover fabric and ribbon, I decided to cover a paper mache' B that I had purchased from Hob Lob. This was quite a project! The B is 3D (as you can see, it's standing on its own in the photo), and I had a hard time cutting the fabric perfectly to fit. BUT, I am thrilled with the finished product - though I will admit it took me 2.5 hours to complete *shakes head*.

You can also see our orange accent wall that we painted, as well as Brenson's crib and bedding. Once everything is completed, I'll definitely post photos of the whole room! We (and by we, I really mean Chris) spent some time this past weekend putting finishing touches on the paint, hanging new hardware for the curtains (which I can't wait to show you all . . . my mom custom made them), and doing a few other little things. Next up: hanging things on the walls. Can't wait!

Pregnancy Update: 31 weeks!

2011-12-05T13:20:00.000-06:00

Today, I am 31 weeks pregnant and officially in the "last leg" of this pregnancy!

Here I am at 30 weeks and 2 days with Brianna:

I meant to post this last week and forgot. So, ummmm, yeah.... I was WAAAAAY smaller with her. And I was BIG with her at the end, so how HUGE am I going to get this time?!?!?

We had a doctor's appointment this morning. My last appointment was 3 weeks ago, and after this I'll be going in every 2 weeks for a while. I have gained 4 pounds in the past 3 weeks, which was actually less than I was expecting with Thanksgiving in there, putting my total weight gain at 22 pounds. My blood pressure was 100 over 68, so about normal for me.

Brenson looks great and healthy. Dr. N estimated his weight to be 4 pounds 6 ounces (70th percentile), so a bit bigger than average for 31 weeks gestation. How funny is it that after all the fuss about Brianna being too small in the womb, I'm now growing a larger than average baby? We are very thankful that things still look good and that he looks healthy!

We still didn't get to see Brenson's face on the ultrasound today because the umbilical cord was blocking it. However, we could see that he has a head full of hair (just like sister!). It was about this time during my pregnancy with Brianna that we saw her hair on the ultrasound, and you may remember that she was certainly born with a head full. It made me so excited to see his hair!

My belly button is looking stranger every day. It has popped out to the point that you can see it through my clothes really well. It never did this with Brianna - and I always thought it looked so cute on other women - but on me I think it just look weird. It feels weird, too.

During my pregnancy with Brianna, I got a TON of stretch marks. They were everywhere . . . not just on my belly but on my hips, thighs, love handles, bum, boobs, etc. I used stretch mark cream faithfully, but it didn't matter. I looked like I had gotten into a scratching fight with a cat and lost horribly. They have faded over time, but are still somewhat visible. I noticed this past week that I have a new one on my belly (only because it is bright red compared to the old ones). I pretty much deserve this since I haven't done one thing to prevent them this time around, but I figure what does it matter at this point? I won't say that I like them, but I certainly think they are a small small price to pay!

Have a great week, everyone!

Talk the talk

2011-12-01T06:54:00.001-06:00

Brianna is a talker. She has always talked a lot . . . even when she was only two months old she would babble and make noise constantly. We get comments all the time about how much she talks, but lately her language has really exploded. She is talking in full sentences, and saying the cutest things (which, of course, I want to document :-)!

One of her favorite things to say these days is "happy home". We sing in cradle roll at church about our homes and our families, and in one song we sing about living in a happy home. So, when we are laughing and having a good time at home, she will often say, "happy home" which just melts my heart. The other night when we were visiting a friend and new baby she said it several times. I'm not sure what brought it on, but I think it was because her house was all decorated for Christmas and felt nice and cozy. She also has started saying it when we see houses that are decorated with Christmas lights :-). I can't tell you how much I love hearing her say this.

Our good friends, Ross & Tia, are expecting their first baby and Tia has been having quite a rough pregnancy. She has missed church quite often lately (which is very unusual), and Brianna really misses her when she's not there. Brianna asks me at least once a day, "Tia sick?" She also will pray "Tia sick" often. So sweet :-).

Chris's birthday is on Halloween, and my birthday is about 2 weeks later. For my birthday, Chris taught Brianna to say "old" when he asked her, "How old is Momma?". She actually says, "ode" instead of "old" . . . hopefully she'll grow out of this! Anyway, so now she says "old" as a standard answer to the age question. She even says it when people ask her how old she is (which they generally think is hilarious)! "Momma ode" is a new favorite saying in this house *sigh*. The other day in the car, she was saying, "Heavy, heavy". When I asked her what was heavy, she said, "Momma!" Chris about fell all over himself insisting that he did not teach her that one, haha!

Every morning, Brianna wants to know where Daddy is. I'll say, "Daddy's at work", to which Brianna will reply, "Daddy on airpane . . . zoom!" Chris does travel quite often, so sometimes I'll say, "Yes, Daddy went on an airplane" but mostly I say, "No, Daddy drove the car to work today." Now, she has started asking, "Daddy go work on airpane, car?" Is it sad that our one year old asks that question?

I love hearing all the different things she has to say right now. Of course, there is so much more but I can't seem to remember it right now. Every day she comes up with something new :-).

Stay tuned for a post about what I've been doing in Brenson's nursery lately!

Pregnancy Update: 30 weeks!

2011-11-29T17:31:00.000-06:00

I'm officially 30 weeks pregnant (well, 30 weeks and 1 day today), and according to my ticker I have about 69 days to go. That's just 2 months, folks!

Here I am 30 weeks pregnant:

I think the pumpkin (and chocolate) pie helped plump me up a bit this past week. Let's hope Brenson is benefiting from it, too! I'll find out my official weight gain next week at my doctor's appointment, but I'm pretty sure there's little chance that I stuck to my one-pound-a-week goal :(.

We traveled to my brother's house for Thanksgiving this year . . . which ended up being about a 10 hour car ride each way. I was SO SORE, especially after our trip home. I think my back is still recovering! We had a great time, though, and I'll blog more about that later.

This week, I have felt a ton of large movements from Brenson. On Sunday during church, my entire belly was obviously moving from side to side. Chris was totally distracted watching it!

I'm sleeping better for now, and actually slept all night last night without the heating pad. My feet have been swelling slightly, but nothing like they did with Brianna yet. I think it's because I'm much better about drinking water all day at home compared to when I was working. Also, I'm up and down and moving more at home as well.

Last night, Brianna was being so sweet and patting my belly very gently saying, "Baby brudder" over and over. However, she's not always so excited about him. Over Thanksgiving, her cousin, JT (with whom she is pretty smitten) asked her if she wanted a brother at her house, to which she promptly and definitively replied, "No." We did go visit a baby recently that was about a week old, and surprisingly Brianna wasn't really interested in her. Of course, I know it may be completely different when the new baby is at her own house.

I have a ton of stuff that I feel like I need to accomplish in the next 69 days. I have a list that I'm working, and that {sometimes} helps me feel not so overwhelmed. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time and BREATH.

:-)

Pregnancy Update: 29 weeks!

2011-11-22T16:58:00.000-06:00

I'm a day or so late with my 29 week update, but Brianna has been sick (read: Momma hasn't been able to get ANYTHING done :-).

Here I am 29 weeks pregnant:

Not much has changed this week. I'm not really sure I'm even much bigger (you may disagree, haha). I'm still having some back pain every night that I'm managing with heating pads and pillows. Based on past experience, that probably won't get better until after the baby is born.

One thing that I have noticed this week is that I haven't really been hungry for anything. Every time it's time to eat, I think and think and think about what might sound good and come up with nothing. I'm still eating, just not enjoying it so much.

Last week, I had to take my wedding band and engagement ring off. When I was pregnant with Brianna, I always wore rings on my right hand ring finger and my wedding ring finger. About mid-way through my pregnancy with her, my right hand started to break out with a rash every time I wore rings on that hand (and these were nice rings . . . made of white gold). I pretty much haven't been able to wear a ring on that hand for more than one consecutive day since then. My left hand was never affected (although I did end up not wearing my wedding ring because of swelling at the end).

Last week, I noticed that my finger was itching. Sure enough, I had a rash with swelling on my left hand ring finger! I took my ring off and the rash went away within 24 hours. Of course, my wedding ring is made of gold, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Now I look like a pregnant divorcee' (because it is very obvious where my rings have been)! Anyway, I hope that I'll be able to wear rings again eventually, but for now they are a no-go. *sad*

I told Chris that I am almost 75% finished with this pregnancy. He looked at me and said, "We are no where near 75% prepared for this baby." Which, is true. For once, however, I'm less worried about it than him :-).

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Brianna's Baby

2011-11-18T06:58:00.000-06:00

For the past several months, we've been talking to Brianna a lot about having a baby in the house. She knows that the baby's name is Brenson, that he is in my belly, where his room is, etc. I've written before about how sometimes she doesn't want to talk about him or pray for him. Lately, when I've been working in his room or sorting through baby stuff, she will grab something and say, "Mine!"

At other times, she pats my belly very gently and says, "Baby" in a sweet little voice. She also adds Brenson to the list of people she wants to thank God for at night sometimes. A few times, she has even kissed my belly (after seeing Daddy do it).

I'm sure it's normal to wonder and worry a bit about how she'll react and adjust to having a new baby in the family. I want it to be an easy transition for her, and I truly believe that eventually she won't remember life without him. However, I don't want her to hate him at first or feel insecure/neglected. This is normal, right?

Well anyway, since we've been talking a lot about having a baby in the house, Brianna has become even more interested in her baby dolls. She's always loved them, but now she interacts with them more than just carry them around. They are also usually the first thing she says she wants to thank God for at night. She'll say, "Amber, babies" (Amber is her favorite Cabbage Patch doll). A couple of weeks ago, I was able to capture these sweet photos of her and Baby Kelly.

Here she is reading Baby Kelly a book:

And then, toting her around the house:

She makes her dolls "cry" (the cutest little fake cry ever), then feeds them a bottle to help them feel better :-):

"Look Mom, I'm feeding Baby Kelly a bottle!"

The sweetest thing is probably when she gives her babies kisses:

She also pats them on the back when they cry. Love it :-).

I'm hoping that this is a good sign that she'll be accepting of a real baby. Regardless, it is so sweet to see her nurturing and loving on her dolls.

My baby wants a puppy

2011-11-16T07:52:00.001-06:00

In the evenings before bedtime, Brianna gets a bath. Since Daddy is home during this time, he likes to give her her baths. It's a good time for them to play and bond, and they both enjoy it.

After bath, Brianna likes me to snuggle her in her towel for about 3 minutes before getting her PJs on. So, after every bath, this is the conversation I hear:

Daddy: Brianna, who do you want to snuggle?

Brianna: Mama!

The other night, I was in the kitchen doing dishes while Brianna was getting her bath. Chris wrapped her up in her towel, brought her into the kitchen, and said, "Brianna, who do you want to snuggle?"

Brianna didn't answer, so Chris asked her again, "Brianna, who do you want to snuggle?"

To which Brianna replied, "A puppy!"

She seriously makes us laugh all the time!

Pregnancy Update: 28 weeks!

2011-11-14T13:30:00.003-06:00

As we hit another big milestone this week (28 weeks!), I am so thankful for this healthy, smooth pregnancy! Here I am, seven months pregnant:

We had a doctor's appointment this morning, and it was quite an eventful time! My mom had never been with me to an appointment (with this pregnancy or with Brianna), so I invited her to come along to this one. So, first thing this morning, my Mom, Brianna, Chris, Brenson, and I all trekked to the doctor's office. Since I'm 28 weeks now, I had to take the glucose test to check for gestational diabetes. I drank the orange sugar drink on the way there, and had my blood drawn not long after we arrived. I should know the results within a few days.

My blood pressure was 120 over 74, so a bit higher than normal for me. Neither the nurse or doctor were concerned with that number though. Also, I have gained 4 pounds since my last appointment (4 weeks ago) which made me happier than the 7 pounds I gained in 4 weeks last time. That puts my total weight gain at 18 pounds. I hope I can only gain 1 pound a week from here on out, but we will see.

I also had to have a Rhogam shot at this appointment. I have a negative blood type, so I had to have this with Brianna as well. I remember this shot being pretty painful, and it was this time as well! It smarted for a good 5 minutes or more afterwards, but it is over now so that's a good thing.

After the blood draw and the shot, Dr. N came in and did an ultrasound. Brenson had his feet down and his head up by my ribs this time. We got a great look at his sweet little feet, and could even count all 10 toes. We also got another confirmation that he is a boy, but once again he was covering his face with his hand. I guess we'll just have to wait until he's born to see what he looks like :-). It cracks me up that we see his "goods" all loud and proud at every ultrasound, but he covers his face with his hand. Typical male :-).

After the ultrasound, the nurse came back in and gave me yet another shot. This time, it was the flu shot in my arm. I wasn't really on board with getting the flu shot, but Dr. N pretty much didn't give me a choice. His exact words were, "Do you know what happens when pregnant women get the flu? They die." Ummmm, okay. He sure doesn't mince words.

I also had to give a urine sample before I left. So yeah, after drinking the glucose drink, having my blood drawn, two shots, an ultrasound, AND a urine sample, I was ready to go home!

We are just so thankful that everything looks great and is right on track. I go back to Dr. N in 3 weeks, then I'll start my every 2 weeks appointments. Before we know it, it will be time to meet our little man. Yay!

Pregnancy Update: 27 weeks!

2011-11-07T10:00:00.003-06:00

Today, I am officially entering the third trimester of pregnancy at 27 weeks pregnant. Growing, growing, growing!

This weekend, we (and by we, I really mean Chris) spent some time working on Brenson's nursery. He did a bit of painting and set up his bed. I have been working on making a few decorations (and I'm very happy with how they are turning out), and we even went and purchased a bouncy chair with some money that was gifted to us. Things are really beginning to come together in there! Exciting!

Sleep has been horrible this week. Several nights I have gotten 3 to 4 hours of broken sleep and that is it! So, while B is taking her nap during the day, I've laid down for a nap as well . . .which has just caused me terrible sleep the next night as well. It's a vicious cycle. I've skipped the nap the past several days and that has helped a little with the night sleeping. Not as much as I would have hoped, though.

The real problem with sleeping is that I'm having back pain. Helllloooo back pain! I told Chris that I didn't remember it feeling like this last time, and he said, "Well, you just don't remember." Funny how your brain just blocks stuff like that out :-). I try really really hard not to take Tylenol (even though I know it's supposed to be "safe"), so the heating pad and body pillows are really getting love these days. Hot showers also help relax my muscles so I can fall asleep. Yesterday, I wore heels to church, then to run a few errands, then back to church and my back was killing me. I think it's time to retire the heels for a while :-). This is not anything I can't handle for the next 10 to 13 weeks . . . I just need to figure out how to handle it best.

Brenson is moving so much every day, and I love it! Chris feels him a lot too, and Brianna even felt him one day. She didn't know what in the world to make of that! I think he kicks much harder than Brianna at this age.

My belly button is still half in half out, I can't get enough salsa these days, and heartburn is rearing its ugly head more frequently. I'm sure that has nothing to do with my salsa intake :-). I have my glucose test next Monday, along with my 28 week appointment. So yeah, things are right on track and for that we are extremely grateful!

Happy Monday!

MORE Autumn Fun {yes, MORE!}

2011-11-05T07:55:00.002-05:00

Okay ya'll, this is my last post on fun Autumn activities and then I'll move on to something else. I just love this time of year!

I had posted about our family trip to the pumpkin patch, but Brianna and I also took a trip a few days later to a different pumpkin patch with our friends, Christie and Callie. This pumpkin patch is actually a real patch . . . not just piles of pumpkins and some bales of hay. We actually had to ride out to the patch on a tractor-pulled trailer to pick our pumpkins!

All of the ripe pumpkins were cut off of the vines for us, but it was really neat to see the not-yet-ripe ones still growing. This is going to show my ignorance, but I had no idea that pumpkins grew green on the vine then turned orange when they are ripe.

Brianna was still trying to lift "heby" pumpkins:

She thought the patch was so fun!

Brianna and Callie loved traipsing through the vines to choose pumpkins. Of course, Brianna fell in the dirt about 5 times, so she was filthy by the time we rode the hayride back to our car. I think she was actually falling in the dirt on purpose so she could play in it :-).

This patch also had several fun games that the girls played and a mini haybale maze. We had a great time!

Another fun activity that we did one day was make carmel apples. It's been so long since I've done this. Brianna's favorite part was putting the stick in the apple, and of course eating the finished product! On the day we made them, I told her that we had to wait until Daddy got home before we could eat them. The minute he walked in the door, she ran up to him, gave him a hug (like she does every single day), and said, "Apples. Eat." Haha!

We also went to a fun Trunk-or-Treat event where my friends, Amy and Kendall, were hosting a trunk. Their trunk was decorated like Charlotte's Web (so fitting since they are both teachers!), and Amy was dressed as Wilbur while Kendall was dressed as Fern. Loved it! Brianna was pretty impressed with the whole Trunk-or-Treat thing. At one point, she said, "Yay this!" She keeps us laughing all the time :-).

We really got some good mileage out of our costume this year. We even wore it to music class one day. This photo is of Brianna and her two favorite music class peeps, Jackson and Abigail. They are both 3 years old, but Brianna thinks she's just as big as they are :-).

Like I said earlier, this is my absolute favorite time of year. I'm so glad that we are blessed with the time and resources to participate in so many fun activies. I try really hard to not spend every single day doing something away from home because I want Brianna to learn to be content at home as well. So, we'll be getting back to our slower paced life now that the weather is getting colder and I'm really getting bigger (and therefore, less mobile).

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Local Kiddie Carnival

2011-11-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, we used to dress up in our Halloween costumes, head out to go trick-or-treating, and canvas the neighborhood knocking on every door collecting HUGE bags of candy. It seems that this kind of traditional trick-or-treating is becoming a thing of the past. We've lived in our house 5 years now, and we never have trick-or-treaters.

So, when deciding how we were going to celebrate Halloween with Brianna this year, I began looking for a community activity that I thought would be fun. I had heard about a really fun event hosted about an hour away, so we planned to take Bri to that. However, at the last minute, we decided to just stick with the smaller {much, much smaller} Kiddie Carnival hosted by our town. It was local, FREE (the other activity was not), and we thought it would be enough for Brianna at this age.

Our sweet little girl dressed up as a butterfly this year:

She could see other kids, booths, and candy from where we were standing and could not wait to find out what that was all about!

Honestly, Chris and I felt like the whole thing was pretty lame, BUT Brianna thought it was GREAT!

There were several games for little ones to play. In this game, Brianna was digging for colored balls to win candy.

And in this game, she was pumpkin "bowling". She wasn't sure about throwing the pumpkins at first, but we finally convinced her that it was okay.

As we were waiting in line for activities and candy, she would just watch the other kids and smile. She thought all of the costumes were great (one little girl in particular who was dressed as Elmo caught B's attention).

One booth had face painting. B was great to stand very still to let the lady paint on her face.

The finished product was this cute little pumpkin:

Another booth had live {huge} cockroaches and a snake. I'm not sure why, but Brianna LOVES snakes. When we were in South Carolina, she was good in Bible Class both times we went and was rewarded with a toy from the treasure chest. BOTH times she chose a plastic snake (one is yellow and one is pink), and she still plays with those silly things almost daily. She did not hesitate to touch this live snake, but her face looks pretty unsure in this photo.

Overall, Brianna had a ton of fun, and we're glad that we went. This little event really was enough for her, and you can't complain about FREE, right? :-)

Pumpkin Carving!

2011-11-03T07:51:00.000-05:00

After heading to the pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins, we were very excited to carve them and roast the seeds. Of course, Brianna didn't really know what in the world was going on, but she was anxious to see what Mom and Dad were up to.

We kept telling her that we were going to take the top off of the pumpkin and look inside. She loved holding the top and is saying, "Whoa!" in this photo:

She wasn't sure about sticking her hand in the gooey pumpkin, but gave it a try. After pulling her hand out, she promptly said, "YUCK!" and opted out of the doing that again.

It was, however, fun to watch Daddy pull the goo out of the pumpkin!

When Mommy tried to convince her to stick her hand in the pumpkin, she started to give it one more try, but changed her mind at the last minute.

She got a little bored watching Mommy and Daddy carve the pumpkins, so Daddy decided to let her help. Mommy wasn't really comfortable with this, but Brianna thought it was great!

When we sat her on the bench with our carved pumpkins, she promptly grabbed her little pumpkin that she had personally chosen at the pumpkin patch and said, "Mine." She didn't want her little pumpkin left out of the photo!

After carving the pumpkins, we roasted part of the yummy pumpkin seeds. We are loving these traditional Autumn activities!

Six Words

2011-11-02T07:21:00.001-05:00

Halloween candy is of the devil!

*sigh*

Autumn Fingerprint Tree

2011-11-01T07:30:00.003-05:00

I have been noticing all kinds of fun Autumn crafts online (mostly in blogs I read) this season, but there are few of them that I have felt Brianna is old enough to enjoy or "get". However, when I found this craft here, I knew Brianna would love it (plus, it's SO cute!)

The first thing I did to prepare for this activity was to download an image of a leafless tree from Google Images. I pasted the image into a word document, sized it how I wanted it, then typed Brianna's name and the year in the document in my favorite font. I then printed two copies on cardstock (in case one somehow got ruined). I also pulled several different colors of ink from my scrapbooking stash, and we were ready to go. It maybe took 15 minutes to prepare . . . my kind of craft!

Brianna didn't know what we were doing, but she was sure excited!

She couldn't wait to get her hands on the ink! She is always trying to get at it when I have my supplies out for a project, so when I actually let her touch it, she was thrilled.

I let Brianna choose which color she wanted to start with, and she chose the red. Then, I helped her put her finger on the ink and "stamp" onto the paper. She thought this was great!

With an older child, I would have just let them do the finger stamping on their own, but since Brianna is only 20 months old, I had to help her pretty much the whole time. Otherwise, she was finger stamping on the table, her booster seat, her pants, etc :-). I did give her some freedom, but for the most part I guided where she was putting the fingerprints.

Also, I kept a few baby wipes handy to wipe off her fingers when we changed colors. The ink did leave her fingers a bit stained, but it did not come off on anything else (like clothing, upholstery, etc).

After stamping with all of the colors I had chosen, Brianna was very proud of the finished product! It only took about 15 minutes to do the stamping which is the perfect length for Brianna right now.

And I L.O.V.E. the way it turned out! It's hanging on the refrigerator now, but I plan to frame it and use it as decor next year. I think a whole collage of these from different children/ages would be so adorable!

Pregnancy Update: 26 weeks!

2011-10-31T07:30:00.002-05:00

I am now 26 weeks pregnant, and we are down to double digits until my due date. Here I am at 26 weeks along:

That little bump you see at the end of my belly is the very top of my belly button that is beginning to pop out. With Brianna, it never completely popped out, but the top of it did poke out like it's doing now. I wonder if it will pop this time?

Earlier this week, I was doing {something} and thought, "This is harder than it should be already. I'm only 21, wait . . . 22, no wait . . . oh, almost 26 weeks pregnant! Maybe that's not so bad after all." I can't believe I'm almost finished with the 2nd trimester. Didn't this just happen?

I'm making some good progress making/customizing a few things for Brenson's nursery, and this week past week I bought all the paper I'll need to complete his favorite-pic-of-the-month first year scrapbook. I'm excited to really get started on that!

We talk to Brianna a lot about having a baby in the house, and about her being a big sister and having a brother. I think the idea is really growing on her. I hope so, at least :-).

Pregnancy brain has been in full swing this week. I'm very forgetful and a bit absentminded. I have always thought pregnancy brain was a myth, but I'm quickly changing my mind about that! When I remember to.

Have a great Monday!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

2011-10-29T07:26:00.007-05:00

A little over a week ago, Chris and I took Brianna out to a local pumpkin patch. It's the same one that we visited last year, and we were really looking forward to taking Brianna there again this year. I love the photos that we captured of her last year and had high hopes that we would get a few good ones this time, too.

It is difficult to get good photos of B these days because she is too interested in what is going on around her. After taking TONS of shots, we did finally get a few good ones :-)

Brianna really wanted to pick up a pumpkin and carry it around. Obviously, they were too heavy for her, and when she tried to pick them up, she would turn to us and say, "Oh! Heby!" It made us laugh.

She was quite excited when Daddy sat this one in her lap for the photo. Love this shot!

We finally let her go pick out a small pumpkin to hold while she rode in the wagon. She was thrilled!

This pumpkin patch has several pins of animals, including goats, chickens, pigs, horses, llamas, and a cow or two. Brianna was fascinated by the animals . . . she especially loved when the cow mooed at us.

As much as she liked the animals, she wasn't sure what to think about this guy. She had to study him for a while.

A nice couple with an adorable baby dressed up as Mickey Mouse offered to take a family photo for us. Brianna though Mickey was too cute . . . which made for a good photo :-).

She really loved just walking around and exploring the place most of all. This is just such a fun age! She was thrilled that we purchased several pumpkins and gourds to take home, and we even let her put one of the small ones in her room. She talks about it every day!

We have been having tons of fun doing all sorts of Autumn activities lately, so stay tuned!

Pregnancy Update: 25 weeks!

2011-10-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

I'm a couple of days late on this update (I turned 25 weeks on Monday), but I didn't want to miss it altogether. Here I am yesterday (25 weeks, 2 days) . . . please excuse the lack of make-up and messy hair!

It wasn't until this point during Brianna's pregnancy that I became brave enough to take a belly shot. Here is my 25 week belly shot with her:

It's hard for me to tell much since the photos are so different, but I do think I look a bit bigger this time around. Maybe just carrying a lot differently?

This week has not been the easiest pregnancy week. I've been burning up all the time . . . as in sweating through my shirts. GROSS. I can be just sitting in the living room and I'll start sweating profusely. If I'm actually up and moving around, there's no doubt I'll be hot and sweaty. This, folks, is the {not so} glamorous side of pregnancy!

Sleep is okay although I am getting up to use the restroom more. I've been having some lower back pain, but it's not keeping me from sleeping for the most part. With Brianna, I slept with a bean bag that had been warmed in the microwave on my back almost every single night starting at about this time. I'm not quite there yet this time. I think it really helps that I'm up moving around so much more (not sitting in a desk chair all day).

I have had a few issues with cramping for the past two nights. It's happening in my lower abdomen, doesn't last long, but is very sharp. I think it's just stretching. I hope.

My self-esteem has been very low lately. I'm just feeling big and gross right now (the sweating doesn't help!), and still getting comments about how huge I am. Last Saturday, we hosted a Ladies Day at church. I was scheduled to give the welcoming and closing remarks. About 10 minutes before I was set to get up in front of everyone to welcome them, a lady said to me, "I can't believe you're only 6 months along. Oh girl, I feel sorry for you! You are going to be so huge by the time Christmas gets here. I bet he'll be a 10 pounder."

Yeah. How exactly is one supposed to respond to that?!? I laughed it off, but of course it was in my head as I'm walking up to the microphone in front of everyone. UGH. I don't remember feeling this way with Brianna . . . not sure what my problem is this time around.

I think that's about it for now. We have several fun activities planned for this weekend, so we're looking forward to that. I hope you all have a fun and safe weekend as well!

Bed Transition

2011-10-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that we currently live in a 3 bedroom house, and that we are in the process of turning our guest bedroom/office into Brenson's room. I think it's all going to turn out just fine, but for a while we were really debating on how to handle the bedroom situation.

We have quite a bit of overnight company between family and friends that come to stay, so we really need an extra double bed somewhere in the house. Before we found out that Brenson is a boy, we had talked a lot about putting a second crib in Brianna's room and having her share with the new baby. I think that had this baby been a girl, we would have done that. However, since he's a boy, we decided to give him his own space.

Our living room isn't big enough for a hide-a-bed, and an air mattress won't fit in the kids' bedrooms with all the furniture in them. So, we decided to transition Brianna to a double bed, and when we have guests, they will use her room.

Brianna's crib is convertible, so we started the transition a little over two weeks ago with taking off the side of her crib. She was so excited! Here she is before going to sleep on her first night in her toddler bed:

The first night was exactly what I expected it would be . . . rough. She actually only got out of bed one time while going to sleep. I think she realized very quickly that we were serious about her staying in bed and decided not to push her luck. However, she fell out of bed 4 times that first night. We could hear her falling out of bed over the monitor, but every time we went in her room she would still be asleep (just on the floor!). We would put her back in bed, and a few hours later she would fall out again. It was a long night.

The second night was even worse because she would wake up when she fell out of bed and come into our room. Brianna has never slept well with us in our bed. We have tried to get her to take naps with us or even sleep with us all night a time or two, but she won't have it. She needs and has always liked her own space. I think she came in our room 4 times the second night, and I would take the lazy road and just put her in bed with us. Of course, she would fuss around for 30 minutes until I took her back to her bed. Then we'd do it all over again. *sigh*

After the first two nights, I got really nervous that maybe she is just too young for this. Our plan was to transition her into the double bed (with side guards) in about 3 months, but I was quickly beginning to rethink that. I was ready to put the side back on her crib and try this all again after she turns two, but Chris convinced me to give it at least a week.

I'm so glad he did, because after the third night, she has done great! She hasn't fallen out of bed since then, and only a few times has she gotten out of bed when she is not supposed to. She has only come in our room in the middle of the night one time since the second night. I think she has really transitioned well!

Here she is sleeping peacefully during nap one day :-):

She really loves her bed like this. She thinks she is very grown up and always wants to climb into bed herself. I'll admit, I was a bit {okay, a lot} emotional about my baby being out of a crib already, but I think it's going to work out just fine.

South Carolina!

2011-10-22T07:00:00.114-05:00

A few posts back, I mentioned that we had recently taken a trip to South Carolina to see my sister and her family. We've been home for several weeks, but I still want to post photos from our trip. Better late than never, right :-)?

When we told Brianna that we were going on an airplane again, she was seriously SO excited. She remembered our recent flights to California and back, and kept saying, "Airpane . . . ZOOM!" All of our flights actually went very smoothly, and Brianna did great on the plane. It ended up being a long day with long layovers, so I was very proud of how well she did.

Chris and I have discovered that LONG GONE are the days of travelling light! What is is going to be like when Brenson gets here?!? I took this photo as we were leaving the airport in Columbia, South Carolina to head to my sister's house. We already had about as much luggage as the two of us could handle (I was pushing Brianna in the stroller and carrying the diaper bag), and then discovered that we also had to haul the carseat we rented out to the rental car ourselves. Poor Chris was loaded down!

It was fairly late when we got to my sister's house, so we planned to sleep in the next morning, then head to Myrtle Beach at our leisure. It took us all a while to get around the next morning, so we didn't get to the beach until just after lunch time. The weather was gorgeous . . . just a little chilly (although perfect in the sun), so the beach wasn't busy at all!

I thought that this beach was so beautiful! The sand was absolutely powder-fine . . . completely different from the beaches we visited in Cali.

In the past month, our family has had our toes in the Pacific Ocean AND the Atlantic Ocean! Love it!

Brianna had a BLAST playing in the sand (and the water as much as we would let her). She buried herself, put the sand in her pockets, threw it in the air, rubbed her head in it, and even sampled a mouthful! She would have played in that sand for hours if we would have let her. She was a complete mess when we left, but the memories are priceless :-).

This photo says so much. Chloe Jo (my sister's little girl who is 10 months older than Brianna) DOES NOT like to get dirty, and therefore was completely unimpressed with the sand. She didn't want to walk in it, much less sit in it. And there's Brianna next to her, having a grand time making a mess!

Of course, we had take a few family photos on the beach. Brianna's face and body language is priceless in this one . . . so bored with photo taking and just wanting to play!

This is better:

Here are our hosts for the week. My sister, Lisa, her husband, Russ, and their daughter Chloe Jo:

The next day was Sunday, and by this time the girls had really warmed up to each other and decided to be friends. Getting ready to leave for church:

On Monday, we headed to Raleigh, North Carolina to see the capital. We weren't far from the NC border, so I wanted to be sure and visit NC while we were in the area. Seeing the capital was an added bonus!

Raleigh is full of history and beautiful, historic buildings. We parked right next to this church that was beautiful, so I had to get a family pic in front of this door.

We toured the inside of the capital building and it was pretty standard. There wasn't really anything about it that I thought was spectacular, but I'm glad that we toured it anyway. The girls did great on the tour even though it was during nap time.

On the capital grounds, there were two old cannons. Chris and I thought we were really funny when we put Brianna in one of them and took a photo. A police officer was standing near-by when we did this and made the comment that he knew that had to be illegal in some way, but he didn't know exactly how. Haha!

During the rest of our visit, both Chris and Russ had to work, so Li and I spent a lot of time at the house doing craft projects, playing with the girls, and visiting. One day, we walked to a near-by park and let them play for several hours. They had a great time!

This photo was taken just moments before Brianna face-planted off the slide and busted her lip open. I felt so bad! She was crying and bleeding, and I freaked out a little bit. I'm glad Lisa was there to help me. Poor Chloe Jo did not like it that Brianna was crying and cried too :-(.

The "older" girls hanging out at the park :-):

I posted one of the craft projects I did while visiting my sister (Brenson's mobile), and these super cute little outfits are one of the projects Lisa did:

One evening, we made cookies with the girls. Well, actually, Lisa and the girls made cookies while I took photos :-).

Brianna and Chloe Jo both love to help in the kitchen.

I think the best part of cookie making is licking the beaters and eating cookie dough! Chloe Jo took one lick of her beater, deemed beater-licking "a mess", and would have nothing else to do with it. Silly girl!

Brianna thinks that the "mess" only adds to the fun of beater-licking :-).

Chris and I both also wanted to visit the South Carolina capital while we were in the state. We were actually flying out of Columbia, so we left my sis's house in enough time to squeeze in a quick capital visit before catching our flight back home.

Now, SC's capital site was pretty impressive to me! It was HUGE for one thing, and so incredibly beautiful on the inside and out.

It was a bright, beautiful, cool morning in SC!

We didn't have a ton of time, but we were able to go inside for about 30 minutes. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous! Notice Brianna's busted lip from the park in this photo :-(.

I was a bit nervous about how the girls would be with each other while we were there. They are completely opposite personalities. Brianna is a very in-your-face, touchy-feely, loud child, but she doesn't really push her limits much. Chloe Jo is a very keep-to-herself, doesn't-like-to-be-touched, quiet child, but she tests her limits all the time. There were several times that Brianna got in CJ's space a little too much, but for the most part they did great (as long as Brianna wasn't touching CJ)! Brianna would watch CJ very closely, then mimic her behavior. While we were there, Brianna took the opportunity to try her boundaries several times, which is so unlike her! She would see CJ get in trouble for that behavior, so I don't know why she thought she could get away with it.
Brianna also talks a lot more than Chloe Jo. B will repeat just about anything we ask her to (and much of what we don't :-), but if Chloe is asked to say something, she'll generally say, "No." When CJ saw the attention Brianna would get by saying things, she decided that she could say all kinds of things, too. So, the influence went both ways.

It was so sweet watching them play together and listening to their little conversations. Brianna tried to boss CJ around, and CJ would have no part of that. It made Li and I laugh. Love our little girlies :-).

10 Years

2011-10-20T07:30:00.005-05:00

Ten years ago today,

Chris and I stood before God, family, and friends.

We made a vow

to live as husband and wife,

in faithfulness to God and one another.

We committed ourselves each other

for better or worse,

richer or poorer,

sickness and health.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of marriage.

Time

2011-10-19T08:00:00.003-05:00

For about 4 years now, I have been a frequent visitor and guest of Blogworld. Initially, I was drawn in by stories of people who were going through (or had conquered) the same struggles that I was facing at the time. Namely, infertility. I soon began writing my own blog to share my story, and well, the rest I suppose you could say is history.

Now, I read many different types of blogs written for various purposes. I still follow a few of those initial "infertility" blogs because, to be honest, I've grown attached to the people, their families, and their story. I follow blogs of family simply because I'm interested in their lives. I follow blogs whose purpose is to provide a bit of spiritual guidance. I also follow a couple blogs that primarily focus on parenting.

A few weeks ago, I read a post titled Too Busy Texting to Parent. We've all heard about it (and seen it), right? Parents who are so wrapped up in their phone that they have no idea what their child(ren) is doing. I personally don't spend a lot of time texting, so I began reading this article not expecting my own toes to be stepped upon.

But they were.

You see, just because we may not be guilty of hours and hours spent texting doesn't mean we aren't allowing other things to get in the way of being an attentive, strong, devoted parent. When I first started staying home with Brianna, I was very careful to not spend much (if any) time on the computer while she was awake. I didn't want her to have a Mommy so plugged into the computer all the time that I couldn't focus on the important things . . . like parenting. Now, don't get me wrong, I think a little computer time while your child is awake is okay, but I knew for me that it could get out of hand really quickly and I wanted to prevent that from the get-go.

However, the longer I've been home with her, the more lax I've gotten on my own rule. I've had to really step back and realize that just because we are in the same house together all day long, that does not mean we are spending quality time together. Many people think that since I am a stay-at-home Mom, I spend tons of time with my child. While that may be true, I've had to really evaluate what kind of time I am spending, how I am using that time, and whether I'm taking that time for granted. It's been too easy for me to take advantage of the time I have with my child because I am blessed with so much of it. I've often wondered what kind of Mom I would be if I was still working outside the home. Would I be more careful to cherish every moment because they are fewer?

Take the time to go read that post. It's a short, well-written read that will be worth your few minutes.

And if it makes you stop and think about the type of parent you are, all the better.

Pregnancy Update: 24 weeks!

2011-10-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today marks 24 weeks of pregnancy! That is a big milestone because it means that if the baby were to be born now, he would have a chance at survival outside the womb. Of course, we don't want him to be born for at least 13 more weeks, but he's big enough and developed enough that he could survive.

Here I am today:

We had an appointment with Dr. N this morning, and everything is looking great! My blood pressure was 102 over 64, which is about average for me. I was very disappointed to see that I have gained another 7 pounds since my appointment 4 weeks ago. UGH. That is way too much for my liking. And the thing is, I don't feel like I'm eating a ton of food or a ton of junk. I also try to only eat when I'm hungry, but the pounds are still packing on. I have been majorly craving milk lately and drinking a lot of it (but I do drink 1%), so I'm going to try and cut back a bit on that. I really don't know what else I can do, so maybe I'm just going to have to learn to deal with the weight gain. I know that gaining weight is part of the deal, but it's still hard to see the scale go up and up and up. I'd love to be one of those women who only gains 20 pounds during pregnancy, but maybe I'm just not? I'm plus 14 pounds overall now . . . and as you can see from the photo, looking very pregnant. Several people have commented to me lately about how big I look. I truly love being pregnant and feel blessed to be pregnant, but someone telling you that you look so big already is hard to hear.

Dr. N tried to get some good photos for us today, but Brenson had his face buried. I would love a great photo of his face! Maybe next time . . . He was positioned head-down with his feet up by my ribs. He's not quite long enough to reach the ribs yet, but soon enough.

Brenson is moving a ton these days, and I love it! Chris feels him almost every night now (Brenson's most active time is between 11:00pm and 12:00am, just like his sister at this age). He's moving right now, in fact :-).

I'm feeling really overwhelmed these days. I have no idea if that's related to pregnancy . . . probably not, but I can blame it on pregnancy anyway. I just feel like I have so much to do and can't quite get my head above water. You wouldn't believe all the lists I have going right now :-). They help me feel like I'm in control.

Hopefully, I'll be posting more soon . . . have lots of posts to catch-up on!

Nursery Craftiness

2011-10-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been making some major progress on Brenson's room. Our house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house (pretty standard for this area). One bedroom is the master with a door directly into the master bath. Before children, we used one of the other bedrooms as a guest room, and the other bedroom as an office and scrapbooking room.

When Brianna was born, we combined the guest bedroom/office/scrapbooking room into one and gave Brianna the former office/scrap room.

Now, I have had the task of cleaning out the guest/office/scrap room for Brenson. As rooms like these often do, it had become a bit of a catch-all for the stuff we didn't have any other place for. Sooooo, I've spent quite a bit of time cleaning out the closet, under the bed, etc in that room. I have also made a place for my scrapbooking stuff (including an armoire full of supplies) and our desk/computer in our master bedroom. Now that the room is cleaned out, I can finally start decorating it as a little man's nursery. Yipee!!!

The walls in that room are already painted a soft, powder blue color. They look much more periwinkle in these photos than they actually are. We are leaving the room that color, but probably adding an orange accent wall. I'm still talking Chris into that part :-).

We have ordered and picked up Brenson's bed, but we haven't put it together yet. I also have his bedding which is primarily brown with accents of blue, orange, and green. We have a few things for the walls, but I still need to order a few things (I've already picked them out).

Okay, so now this post has become a lot longer than I intended. Ooops :-). The point of this post is to show you all the latest project that I just finished for the nursery. It's a mobile . . . and I love it!

My sister made one for her little girl's room back in the spring, and I thought it was too cute! As I mentioned in a previous post, we recently took a little trip to see them so she helped me put this one together for Brenson's room:

It was really SO easy! If you're interested in making one, she posted a tutorial here. I did tweak this just a bit because I wanted to use {a lot} more than 7 patterns.

Oh, and this isn't its final place in the nursery. I just needed a place to hang it for now so that it doesn't get crumpled up.

Those days...

2011-10-11T17:00:00.002-05:00

Because sometimes, we just have one of those days.

*Sigh*

Pregnancy Update: 23 Weeks!

2011-10-10T15:37:00.000-05:00

Today, I am 23 weeks pregnant with Brenson! Time is ticking right along, and although I'm not feeling much different these days, I sure am looking different.

When we traveled to California, I was 16.5 weeks pregnant. Brianna could sit on my lap on the airplane, and we were able to put the tray table down. Last week, we flew to South Carolina to see my sister and her family (more on that later), and I could no longer put the tray table down with Brianna on my lap. Yikes! We have a doctor's appointment next week, so I'll find out my official weight gain then.

I'm feeling good and sleeping well right now. I have been having some back pain, but nothing too bad. It will probably only get worse from here :-). My appetite is certainly big right now, but I can't eat a whole lot at one time without feelilng miserable. I'm carrying Brenson high, just like I did Brianna. That makes me feel super full for about an hour after I eat.

Nesting is in full swing now that we're back home. We ordered Brenson's bed a few weeks ago, and brought it home this weekend. I can't wait to get it all set up, although for now it's still sitting in the garage in its box. I feel like with the holidays right around the corner that I need to really get busy preparing for Brenson's arrival.

Happy Monday!

And he has a name . . .

2011-09-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

If you have followed my blog for a while, then you may remember that naming Brianna was quite a challenge for us. In fact, I had a poll on my blog asking for opinions to help us decide between about 6 names. We settled on a name for her about a week or so before she was born.

All along though, we knew exactly what we would name her if she came out a boy instead of a girl. That made it very easy for us to decide on a name this time around. The name that we have decided to give our little man is a bit different from what we had picked out before, but not much.

So, are you ready to read what his name will be???

I just love seeing it in writing :-). And remember, we love this name, so if you decide to comment, please be kind.

Baby boy's name is

This is a name that I heard a long time ago, and I have loved it ever since. I shared it with Chris when we were first married, and he has loved it since then.

Just like his sister, Brenson will have two middle names. His full name is

Charles is my dad's name, and we just like the way Jacob sounds with it.

So, from now on, Baby Boy will be known as Brenson on the blog and otherwise :-).

Pregnancy Update: 21 weeks!

2011-09-28T16:31:00.001-05:00

Who is a great big blog slacker?!?

Yep, that'd be me :-). Unfortunately, I don't foresee it getting better for the next couple of weeks, but eventually life will slow down a bit and I will blog again. Right?

This week, I turned 21 weeks pregnant with our baby boy. Although I didn't post the update on Monday, I did have Chris snap a quick pic of the belly:

I can't believe how BIG I'm looking these days. I felt like I got huge with Brianna, so I wonder how big I'll get this time around? This is the only belly shot that I've taken in the evening, and there is quite a difference between morning belly and evening belly these days. Evening belly looks and feels MUCH bigger.

This week, I have felt lots and lots of movement and it keeps getting stronger. I love love love this feeling! In fact, he's kicking away right now. I wonder if he knows I'm talking about him *grin*? Chris has been able to feel him kick several times, and those are always special moments.

I love this time in pregnancy. The nausea and fatigue are gone, but I'm not uncomfortably big yet. I can feel him move, but the movements aren't painful. This is the best phase of pregnancy, I think.

Brianna has become very un-interested in the baby. If we ask her questions about the baby, she doesn't want to talk about him. She can say his name, but won't often. The other night before bed we were getting ready to say her night-time prayer with her. We asked her what she wanted to thank God for, and she said, "Mama, Dada, Gampy, G-Jo, Annie". I said, "What about the baby? Do you want to thank God for him?", to which she replied, "Nope!" Haha! Oh dear.

There were several times this week when I found myself out of breath or not quite able to bend fully at the waist to reach something. I told Chris that I was definitely feeling pregnant . I know that's an odd thing to say since I obviously AM pregnant, but I don't always feel pregnant. I am rapidly losing my ability to bend at the waist though. I gave myself a pedicure today while I still can :-).

I am going to do his name reveal later today, so check back!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday today!

I'm loving that Brianna and I took some time to bake cookies last week (AND that the weather has finally cooled down enough that we can bake again!). This was Brianna's first cookie baking experience, and I think it was a hit!

She was very proud of the finished product :-).

I'm loving that we'll soon be traveling to South Carolina to visit my sister and her family! We're going to have so much fun!

I'm loving that we'll be traveling to Tennessee in November to see my brother and his family! This will be our last big trip before bebe' makes his appearance.

I'm loving all of our great memories from our recent California vacation. Brianna is still talking about some of the things we did.

I'm loving this pretty maternity dress that I ordered online. I rarely order any clothing online because it never seems to work out, but this dress is so cute on. Plus, I have cute new boots to go with it!

Finally, I'm loving my sweet sweet baby girl. I couldn't resist taking this photo of her peacefully sleeping the other night :-).

What are you loving on this beautiful day?

Pregnancy Update: 20 Weeks!

2011-09-19T21:05:00.001-05:00

Today marks the half-way point for this pregnancy! It feels like a huge milestone to me.

This is a photo of me that Chris took yesterday before church:

He was out of town all week last week, and when he came home, he said, "Wow! There's no denying that you're pregnant now." Not that we were ever trying to deny it :-). I think he was just making the point that I look pregnant these days for sure.

I mentioned last week that today we were scheduled for our 20 week ultrasound. Chris wasn't able to make it to today's appointment, but his mom and Brianna came with me. I was a bit nervous/anxious for this appointment because it was around this time in my pregnancy with Brianna that we had a scare about her not growing and her small head size. Although everything turned out just fine, I don't ever want to go through something like that again.

However, everything looked GREAT with baby boy. He was measuring right on track (including his head size). We have an ultrasound at every appointment, but this one was a little more in depth. Dr. N. looked at the baby's heart, stomach, kidneys, spine, and even zoomed in on his face to check for a cleft lip. As far as he could tell, everything looks healthy and just as it should. Praise God!

When Dr. N. zoomed in on the baby's face, we could see his nose, chin, and mouth really well. I think he looks just like Brianna did in her ultrasounds . . . which means he looks just like Chris :-).
We also got a strong confirmation that the baby is a boy. I didn't doubt it, but it's still nice to have another confirmation. The only photo Dr. N printed for us this week was of the boy part, so I won't be posting that here. I really wanted some face photos, but not this time :-(.

The baby weighs about 11 ounces now, and is positioned with his head down and body mainly on my right side. I had told Chris a few days ago that my belly looked lopsided, and now I know why! I was also afraid that I had gained more weight than I should have with vacation so recently. Unfortunately, I was correct. I gained 6.5 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago. That puts me at a total weight gain of 7 pounds, which I don't think is bad for 20 weeks, but I am going to try and be a bit more careful. I don't want to gain more than 1 pound per week from here on out.

My blood pressure was 100 over 60 this time, so better than last time.

Chris felt him kick for the first time last night. We were both very excited about this. I love feeling him move, and feel it every day now (though the movements are still just small bumps and flutters for the most part).

One last thing, Little Man has a name! It's {mostly} the boy name we have had picked out for years. I will announce it on here soon. There are a few more people that I want to be sure to tell in person before I make it cyber news.

Cali Vacation: Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, & Nevada

2011-09-16T07:00:00.005-05:00

Okay, I'm finally getting around to writing the third {and final} installment of our vacation posts. In contrast to the busy and very on-the-move four days in San Francisco, the second part of our vacation was much slower paced and more relaxing. Chris actually had a Monday through Friday training in Lake Tahoe, so Brianna and I were left to entertain ourselves during the days. That's pretty much where the relaxing came in :-).

Sunday morning, we got up really early to leave San Francisco and drive to Sacramento (about two hours). In Sacramento, we went to church, then went to the California State Capital building. Those of you who know us well know that visiting State Capital sites is kind of our "thing". Cali's was impressive!

It was so warm in Sacramento compared to San Francisco. I think we may have even broken a bit of a sweat walking around the Capital site.

We did go in the capital building, but just for a few minutes. This is the inside of the dome:

Brianna loved running around the Capital grounds after spending the morning in the car and then sitting through church. This tree was HUGE!

After our visit to the Capital, we hopped back in the car for another three hour drive to Lake Tahoe. The drive was really gorgeous - cutting right through the mountains - but unfortunately, the baby wasn't loving the twists, turns, and altitude climb too much. I was pretty sick through most of the drive.

So, after grabbing dinner at the hotel Sunday night, we spent an hour or so settling in our suite, then went to bed. We were all exhausted from the day!

Like I already said, Monday through Friday we had a pretty relaxed schedule. We would get up around 6:30am, go eat breakfast with Chris, then he would head to training. Brianna and I spent our morning walking around town, going to the hotel pool, and planning our evening activities. We were actually staying in South Lake Tahoe, so there weren't tons of things for us to do aside from a few tourist shops and a walking trail. In the afternoons, she (sometimes we) would nap, then Chris would be back between 4:30 and 5:00pm.

During the evenings, we tried to fit in all the activities we wanted to do before Brianna was ready for bed (which was generally around 7:00 . . . she was still on Central time). This means that we really didn't have time for much, but we did do a few things.

A few nights, we went down to the beach. It was so incredibly beautiful!

The water was pretty cold, but Brianna loved it once she got used to it!

She even started to really like the sand!

I think she would have spent hours on the beach. Of course, I'm sure it helped that it was warmer in Tahoe than in San Fran (until the sun set, then in got COLD).

Toes in Lake Tahoe :-).

Brianna refused to be in our photo with us, but I think this is cute of us anyway.

The sunsets over the Lake we AMAZING. Of course, there is no way to capture the beauty in a photo, but you get the idea.

This night, the sunset was exceptional!

This is probably my favorite family photo from the trip . . . even though it's not the best of us, I LOVE the background!

This was Brianna's favorite way to see the sites of Tahoe:

We stayed at the Embassy Suites. Brianna was pretty much obsessed with this bear that we passed on our way in and out of the hotel. Behind the bear is a fish pond that she loved as well. She also loved that we were staying on the 8th floor, and the elevator was made of glass. Every. single. time. we rode up or down, she would say, "Wow!" and "Whoa!". So cute :-).

Our hotel was right on the Cali/Nevada state line. Since we had never been to Nevada before, we took an evening and drove over to Carson City (also the state capital).

The Nevada State Capital was certainly less impressive than the California State Capital, but still pretty in its own way.

Brianna enjoyed running around these grounds as well. She thought she needed to pick up and pocket every rock she could find here. That was completely new, but she has remained rock obsessed ever since.

The drive back through the mountains from Carson City to South Lake Tahoe was breathtaking! These photos don't even come close to doing it justice.

God's works are truly wondrous! Isn't this exactly what you always pictured Nevada to look like? It was for me.

Friday afternoon, we left Lake Tahoe and returned to Sacramento (via a different route than we drove in). We saw some amazing views of the Lake:

Finally, Saturday morning we flew out of Sacramento and headed home. We had a wonderful time on our vacation and made some fantastic lifetime memories. We were all very ready to get home on Saturday, but it was sooooo worth it.

Brianna was so cute when we finally got home (which was at like 11:00pm). She just ran all around the house, checking out her toys and room and bed, and even just layed right in the middle of the living room floor. I think she was ready to be back :-)

Pregnancy Update: 19 weeks!

2011-09-14T09:36:00.000-05:00

I logged into blogger to post a What I'm Loving Wednesday blog and realized that I never posted my weekly pregnancy update. Ooops! So yes, it's a few days late, but here it is.

Here I am 19 weeks pregnant:

Until this week, I have been wearing a hybrid of maternity and regular tops (although all maternity pants/shorts). However, the baby bump is now big enough that regular tops are really beginning to look too short and too tight, so they will be retired for a while.

My skin has been terrible lately . . . very broken out. When I was pregnant with Brianna, my skin was clearer than it had been in years, but not this time around.

Along with the bad skin, I also have a bad temper. Blech . . . I don't like writing that, but I'm afraid it's true. I have been short tempered, irritable, and super-sensitive since the very beginning of this pregnancy, and it's not getting better. Chris has a theory that this is because I'm having a boy and have extra testoterone in my system. I have no idea if this is legit or not. What do you all think?

Our 20 week OB appointment is next week (already?), so I hope I'll have some decent photos of Mr. Man to share then!