Happy Birthday Emily!!

How can it be??  Little miss is TWO!!!

We had a wonderful party for her last weekend, and seriously we have never seen her have such a good time and be so happy.  She just wandered around and enjoyed all the attention she was showered with.  It was an exhausting day for mama and daddy, but 100% worth every second!

The theme this year was "Fish".  Emily loves "shish" as she calls them!

Designed and printed the invites (took a design I saw online and traced it,  so it's not completely original)

Made the applique for the shirt and sewed the skirt for her outfit

Minimal decor, just blue streamers and balloons to mimic an "ocean" feel

Printed and cut out "fish" birthday banner

Her present from mom and dad: Water table!

Checking out all the parts

Snacks included chips, candy, goldfish crackers (of course!)

And Swedish Fish!

She has a unique way of opening gifts...

Another internet find - fish cupcakes!  Was a lengthy process, but they looked cute!

Emily's seal of approval...

31 weeks!

So yep, slacked again.  Seems to be a common theme with me and this blog.  But I always return eventually.

So last we left I was 25 weeks and just feeling dandy for the most part.

So now here we are 31 weeks and feeling.....eh.....hanging in there.  With the third trimester comes along my old pal from first tri:  exhaustion.  And this time he's brought some friends: heartburn, discomfort, and some other friends that haven't been so pleasant.

But again, in the grand scheme - things are going along quite well and all these are just the normal qualms of a healthy pregnancy.

So here is a survey and a few photos from the last month.  I missed a week or two here and there, but ah well, I don't look that much different from week to week!


How far along? 31 weeks 2 days

How big is Baby? 19 inches, 3.9 lbs - size of a head of lettuce

Total weight gain/loss: Probably about 20 ish lbs?

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Wedging pillows in awkward places is the name of the game!

Best moment this week: Nursery progress!  Jim has been working his butt off to tear down the nasty old wallpaper that had been in the house since we bought it.  It's proving to be a difficult job, but I'm glad we are getting a move on.

Movement: Lots of kicks, active little man in there!

Food cravings: Still just want nothing but ice cream, cookies, cupcakes, candy etc.....

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to:  Getting everything organized and ready - still feel like we are a bit unprepared!

Milestones: Passed Glucose test, into 3rd tri, hospital bags packed!

Coming soon:  Emily update - she deserves her own post!

24 and 25 - Just crusin' on through!

Seriously.  Can time just slow down just a little bit?  It's already MID-MARCH??  Where did February go, where did the beginning of March go?  My BABY is turning TWO in TWO months!!! And then a month later I'm having ANOTHER baby?  What?!?

Okay, but really.  I feel like we have so many things to do and time is just not allowing this to happen.  Nursery still needs to be majorly overhauled.  As in wallpaper removed, painted, furniture re-assembled and all that nonsense.  Then I need to organize and assemble all the "stuff" bouncer, carseat, swing, etc.  Wash all the clothes, and blah blah blah.

It'll all get done.  Even if it means we are just bookin' it at the last minute.  It's just so different this time since Emily consumes our every waking minute!  And seriously, that is no joke.  She is an all consuming being for sure (and we love her dearly)!

So here I am, getting bigger.....and with getting bigger starts to come the slight discomforts of pregnancy.  Heartburn, getting comfortable in bed to sleep, not being able to lift things very well (ahem....near 30 pound child).  We are nearing the end of the ever so comfy second trimester and into the somewhat dreaded 3rd trimester.   Where one starts to perfect the duck waddle and can't stand for too long, can't sit for too long, can't move for too long, yet can't be still for too long.  Fun times!

But all in all, this pregnancy has been a breeze - as was the first one.  So I shall try to make my complaints to a minimum since I really don't have much to complain about!

How far along? 25 weeks 3 days

How big is Baby? 9.2 inches, 2 lbs - size of an eggplant

Total weight gain/loss: Haven't checked in a while.

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Getting a little more challenging....but still have yet to add more pillows.  Soon.....

Best moment this week: Actually can breathe today!  The whole household has been sick all week.

Movement: Lots of kicks, love them!

Food cravings: I could just eat and eat and eat sugar until my head explodes

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to:  Hoping to pass my glucose test I take in a few weeks.

Milestones: Passed "V-day".  Next milestone will be 3rd Trimester!!

Weekly updates and such!

Well today has been a busy and exciting day!  First things first, I am now the proud aunt to my first nephew!  My sister in law had her second baby today and everyone is doing well.  The little man is 7lbs 15 oz and we are looking forward to going to visit this evening!

In other news, I took Emily to a "Mother's Morning Out" program today.  We just went for a "visit" so to speak and checked out the place.  It is at a nearby church and is run by an older woman who has been doing this kind of program for about 30 years.

It had it's pros and cons for sure.  Pros:  Emily had fun playing with the other kids and got along with the teacher.  Cons: There is only the one lady watching all the children.  Today there were 5, at max she says she has 8.  It seemed to get chaotic at times and it was hard for her to watch everyone at once.  I am not familiar with typical daycare/preschool standards, so I don't know if this is particularly common or not, but it made me a touch nervous.  However, it is only a 2 1/2 hour time frame, so in all actuality it isn't so bad.  Another pro was that all the moms I met seemed very happy with the program and had been attending regularly (of course they wouldn't be there if they didn't like it, but still it's always nice to hear good things!)

Emily NEEDS something like this desperately.  Just me leaving for the bathroom ensued a semi-epic meltdown complete with the heart wrenching "mama mama" cries you could hear all the way down the hall.  We are going to go again next week and I will try to leave a couple times and see if she will settle down.

In other Emily news.....not too much going on with the little bugger.  She is a little firecracker for sure.  She is always trying to push our buttons and push the limits on what she can or cannot do.  We have started within the last couple months attempting "time outs."  Those are....interesting.  She just screams and screams and we have to hold her down for the 2 min allotment at this time.  Eventually we will have to "super nanny" her to get her to sit down and stay seated.  But she gets so darn worked up, it's almost a lost cause at this point.  She'll get it eventually.

So here we are 23 weeks......

How far along? 23 weeks 4 days

How big is Baby? 8.5 inches, 1.5 lbs - size of an ear of corn

Total weight gain/loss: Still probably around 10 lbs

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Still sleeping well, belly starting to get in the way sometimes

Best moment this week: New nephew born today!

Movement: Trying to find out a pattern of when little man kicks most.  Seems to be late afternoon and sometimes right before bed.

Food cravings: Sweets.....I am a sugar-a-holic!

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to:  24 weeks - "V-day"  Although a baby born this early is definitely not anything to e excited about, I'm at least happy to know that he would have a fighting chance from this point out.

Milestones: Boring pregnancy so far....that is a GREAT milestone!!

Even though it's blurry, I love this pic.  I need to figure out how to get my autofocus on my camera to work better.....I know what the problem is in this one, but it's hard when I'm doing things on the fly by myself!

21 weeks AND 22 weeks

Slacked a bit and missed my weekly update last week!  Not much has changed between now and 21 weeks anyways, except for a jazzy new haircut (yay)!

We are just gonna get right to it!

How far along? 22 weeks 2 days

How big is Baby? 8 inches, 1.2 lbs - size of a papaya

Total weight gain/loss: Still hovering around 174 on my home scale.  I started out around 164 right before I got pregnant.  So about 10 lbs.  Less according to the doctors office since they didn't actually weigh me until like 8 or so weeks along.

Maternity clothes? Yep yep yep

Sleep: Still sleeping well, belly starting to get in the way sometimes, but overall not too bad yet.

Best moment this week: Yesterday - mom-in-law took me out for some wonderful shopping for little boy clothes.  We came back with a boatload of onesies and pj's.  So exciting!!  We also got a cute St. Patty's day dress for Emily.  Can't wait to get her into that in a few weeks!

Movement: Feeling kicks daily now!  Love that movement, and the little hiccups!

Food cravings: Nope - last weekend I had a hankering for an Orange julius.  Hubby went to the store and got me ingredients to make my own - they were pretty awesome.  And I still got stuff left to make more!

Gender: Boy!

Labor Signs: No

Belly Button in or out? In

What I am looking forward to:  Well, non MY pregnancy related - I am looking forward to my new nephew to be born in the next couple days!!  Sister in law is having mild contractions and could go any day!!  Very exciting!

Milestones: Still sleeping well and overall feeling pretty good!  I'll take that as a milestone!




Pictures from this week and last week!

I liked two from this week, so posted both.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I am just gonna say it.....I have the best husband in the world!  Don't try to argue it, it's true!  ;)

This Valentine's day for me was actual a 10 day Valentine adventure!  On February 1st I woke up to a little note that prefaced the fun to come.....

A little back story first:

During our trip to Disney World last October we ran into Perry the platypus from the show "Phineas and Ferb" EVERYWHERE.  It seemed like every other person (even family groups) were wearing this shirt:

or had one of these kick ass Perry plushies that makes a cool "chattering" sound when you hit his paw:

So, anywho, we were intrigued and caught a few episodes of the cartoon show while we chilled in our hotel room one night.  It's a cute kids show.  Well, Perry happens to be a super secret agent "Agent P".  So there's that.  After we got home from our trip we happened to run into the Disney Store near our house and saw Perry there!  We took it as a sign and snatched him up, because frankly, he is pretty cool.

Feburary 1st I embarked on a super secret mission that lasted for 10 days.  It was supposed to go to about 13 or 14 (Valentine's day) but some plans were foiled and some improv had to be done!

I will take you on a photographic journey of the events:

Day 1

 Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

So each day was filled with goodies and surprises for me and Emily aka "Agent A" and Agent E".  Along with the treats was a message on what all the goods were supposed to be used for (investigating, disguises, training manual).  It was so fun to wake up every morning and go on a little search for Perry since I didn't know where he would be next!

Day 10 mentioned that a secret package was to be delivered!  Apparently "Agent J's" arch nemesis UPS decided to make an early delivery, haha.  So what was in the box?????

A brand new shiny....

Pear pink Nintendo 3DS!  Jim has had his 3DS for a bit now and kept asking me if I was going to get one too.  I currently had a regular Nintendo DS Lite (also pink....also a Valentine's day present a couple years ago!) and wasn't sure I was ready to make the upgrade.

It's been a ton of fun and I have a few games on order that should arrive soon.  There are a few games that me and Jim can play together as well, so that's also a lot of fun!

Tell me that's just not the most creative, sweet, Valentine's surprise ever!  Yes, we are complete dorks, and that's totally okay by me!

As for Valentine's day (last night), we had carry out Mediterranean food with heart shaped pita bread and then spent the evening playing 3DS games with each other.  Couldn't of asked for a more relaxing and fun Valentine's day!!

XO