A Good Week

This past week has been a really good pregnancy week. The nausea is essentially gone, I am not quite so hungry and I am not as tired. I have still been napping quite a bit, but I think that is more because of staying up late to watch the olympics than being pregnant. The one thing that still plagues me is chicken. I can eat it if it is shredded, but chunks just get to me. I think there just needs to be enough other stuff and flavors that I can't actually taste the chicken and then I will be fine.

The best thing about this past week was hearing the baby's heartbeat! Kyle bought me an at home doppler for my birthday when I was pregnant with Ella and we decided to try it out this week, not really expecting to hear anything because it is still early, but after about 20 minutes of trying we found the heartbeat! It was very fast, about 176 beats per minute, which is normal at only 11 weeks pregnant. On Friday I have my 12 week appointment, which would be more exciting if we hadn't already heard the heartbeat.

I feel so grateful to be through the rough early weeks and so excited for the upcoming months. I love the second trimester; none of the morning sickness, starting to show, and feeling the baby move, without being super huge and uncomfortable. It is strange to think in 2 months I will be noticeably pregnant and my baby girl will be 2 years old! Where has the time gone?

Belly Growth

When I was pregnant with Ella I didn't start showing until about 17 weeks and I don't think I gained a pound until my 20 week check up. This time around is definitely different. The battery is dead on our scale so I don't actually know how much weight I have gained, but I am pretty sure I have gained some weight. My jeans are getting a little tighter and when I lay on my stomach it feels like there is a little bump. I read in my pregnancy book that my uterus is about the size of a grapefruit now, so it makes sense that I would be able to feel it right now. I have also heard that the uterus grows faster after your first pregnancy, so I was expecting to start showing sooner, but not quite so soon! I will be 10 weeks on Friday, and I am guessing I will have to start wearing maternity pants in the next few weeks.

It is interesting to think back to how it was when I was pregnant with Ella and compare how different it is now. I don't think about being pregnant or daydream about what it will be like to have this baby nearly as much as I thought about Ella. I think part of that might be because I know what is coming and I am scared! I know in the long run we will be so happy to have another child and it will be great for Ella to have a live in playmate, but I am also anticipating lots of sleepless nights and crying. Right now most of what I think about is how to survive the exhaustion, intense hunger and nausea. I am so thankful that Ella takes a really good afternoon nap. This morning I had a headache and just felt awful all morning, but I napped when Ella did and woke up feeling a ton better and didn't feel sick the rest of the day. Hopefully I will be able to train the baby to sleep at the same time as Ella so I can get a nap in every once in awhile! I'm not holding my breath... :)

Boy or Girl?

When we were pregnant with Ella I was convinced I was having a boy and for some reason I really wanted to have a boy. I can't really remember why I wanted a boy anymore, but I did. I thought that with our second pregnancy I would have a very strong desire to go one way or the other because I would like to have one of each, but I find myself not really caring right now. I have reasons for wanting both. I would like a boy since we already have a girl and I would like to experience parenting both a girl and boy. But I also think that it would be really fun for Ella to have a little sister. Plus, I already have lots of cute girl clothes! Although half the stuff probably wouldn't work because this next one will be born in a totally different season than Ella, our spring baby. I really liked having a spring baby and would have liked another, but God had different timing for us, and as always He knew better. Having our second baby this spring would have been chaotic and very stressful with us moving most likely at the end of May. I am so grateful to be able to get the move out of the way and be relatively settled before adding another one to the family.

I don't think we will be finding out what we are having this time around. We didn't find out with Ella either and it was exciting to be surprised. I am not all that concerned with being surprised again, I would rather know if I am going to have to buy a whole new boy wardrobe. However, according to my husband being practical is not nearly as much fun as being surprised!

Are You Ready For This!?!?

Well, ready or not, here it comes! Most of you probably already know that I am pregnant, but I thought I should write about it anyways. I am now 7 weeks along with an expected due date of September 10th. I am doing ok so far, although I feel nauseated most of the time and I am pretty tired too. I only actually threw up once when I was pregnant with Ella, so I am assuming it will probably be similar this time around. Ella seems pretty excited about the baby, although she doesn't really know what is going on. She does point to my stomach when we ask where the baby is. She was also playing with my friend Chelsea's stomach the other day and seemed to understand that there was a baby in there. Chelsea is 34 weeks along so it is nice to show Ella what mama will look like soon.

Ella will be almost 2 1/2 when the baby is born. I think that will be a nice gap- close enough for them to be good friends but far enough apart that Ella will be able to help out. She is already really good at getting things for us or throwing things away when we ask her. I think Ella will be a great big sister! I also think she will struggle with being jealous for awhile, but hopefully she will be excited enough about the baby that it won't be too much trouble.

Kissy Kissy

This isn't a new picture but it works well with the theme of my post, and its cute, so I thought you could all enjoy it! We have always been very affectionate with Ella, giving her hugs and kisses all the time. Sometimes she pretends not to want affection, but she really loves it! She also loves it when Kyle and I are affectionate with each other. When Ella was younger she would always smile when Kyle and I hugged or when he kissed me goodbye in the morning. In the last few days Ella has actually started pushing our heads together to make us kiss!



I think it is very important for parents to show that they love each other in front of their kids. Knowing that their parents love each other gives kids a sense of security, and is also a really good example for the kind of love they could have in the future. Of course when I was a kid I would aways complain when my parents kissed in front of me, but I always appreciated knowing that they loved each other and they would never get a divorce. I want Kyle and I to always be an example of what a truly loving marriage looks like.

Regrets

You know when you do something that you know you shouldn't do but you do it anyway, and then it comes back to bite you in the butt? Well, I am feeling that right now. I didn't want to wake Ella up from her morning nap today because when I wake her up she tends to be really crabby. Now she is refusing to take her afternoon nap and we have small group tonight. It would be really nice if she slept now so she will do well tonight. It seems like this happens a lot. Every time I swear I will never let her sleep too late in the morning again, but I know I will. Because sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it to keep her schedule so tight.

Cookie Baking 2009

Every year for the last 20 years my mom's family has gotten together to do a Christmas cookie exchange, and let me tell you, it is the best day of the Christmas season. Christmas eve and day are fun and everything, but there is just something about our annual cookie baking day that is near and dear to my heart. I love my mom's family, but there are a lot of them and so on Christmas day it is pretty crazy and kind of difficult to have a whole lot of quality time with everyone, especially since we now divide our time with my family and Kyle's. But on cookie baking day it is mostly my aunts, my mom and sister, and my Grandma, with a few cousins thrown in and random extra people. It is a bit smaller (not that anything is small in a family of nearly 50!) and so much fun! We listen to Christmas music cranked up loud and help each other make cookies. There is a lot of laughter and reminiscing about past years and how our family has grown and changed. Except for one year when the kitchen was being remodeled, my mom has hosted every cookie baking. I think there is something special about having this day on the farm. Maybe its just me, but Christmas feels more Christmas-ey when it is on a farm. I suppose I just feel that way because I grew up on a farm.


I stole some pictures from my sister's facebook page to give all of my none family member blog readers an idea of what the day is like:

Here I am showing off dough I mixed up for my mom

Ella "helped" organize the cut outs for sugar cookies

Here are my aunts Paula, Cathy, and Carla, Carla's daughter Calli and me working on cookies