Flashback Friday

LeAnn, Jackie, Shannon & Me

Four years ago this weekend I was at a wedding. Our friends from college Cree and Jessie were getting married! It was a great event - as those wedding tended to be. I miss events with these people! I miss seeing these people (although I do get to see Jackie still somewhat frequently, as she now lives in WA as well.)

7 Weeks and 4 Days

Today was our first ultrasound. It was a bit earlier than they like to do them, since developmentally they are still a blob and they can't officially pick up the heartbeats per minute on the ultrasound quite yet. However, I requested this visit so that I'd have a picture to take with me to Cali when I visited my family. So at 6:45am our small family of 3.5 loaded in the car and headed to the doctor's office. Ace still in his pjs had fun running around the office, less fun once we were trapped in a smaller room. He did pretty well and liked looking at 'Baby' for a minute, said s/he looked like Mickey at one point and then quickly lost interest.

While we couldn't get an official read on the heartbeat, Megan said she'd guess it was 150bpm, that it was fast. That didn't surprise me - Ace's heartbeat was a steady 150bpm the entire pregnancy even after he ran out of room to squirm around in. :) Baby TIME is measuring exactly on target for a due date on January 9th, 2011 - which is 7 weeks and 4 Days pregnant.

The only 'abnormality' on my ultrasound was an extra fluid sac, which could have been that my body thought about making two of them in there (yikes!) but decided against it or just simply I have second sac of fluid next to the first one which will either be absorbed by my body or result in some spotting in the next few days or weeks. Not looking forward to that part of the program, never had any spotting with Ace not even after implantation - so it is nice to know that some at this point is to be expected. To insure that everything is adjusting properly the doctor wants to see me again in 2(ish) weeks from now. So June 15th we'll have another ultrasound to see how sac #2 is absorbing and how much more Baby TIME has grown.

Party!

Yes, we kicked off the 'summer' season this past weekend with Jackie's bachelorette party! See, Jackie is getting married in late August, but Dana the MOH is due to have her twins just before that... and of course she needs to be a part of all the festivities and so we moved it up to a for sure comfortable time for that - and with lots of other fun summer activities this is the weekend that worked best! We all had a great time! Dana was an awesome host with a whole slew of silly games like name the lube flavor, the 'bag game' (that's all I'll say about that, haha.) We went wine tasting, made calzone, went to Claim Jumper for desserts, and had chocolate fondue for breakfast (yes, breakfast, yum!) Lots of fun was had. :)

7 Weeks

Baby TIME's brain began to form last week, as did their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, lip, tongue, and teeth. It is amazing how fast Baby goes from a few cells into forming parts that they will use the rest of their existence. It's pretty profound and truly a miracle.

Today Baby TIME is measuring from crown to rump 8 mm or 0.30 inches. Baby weighs about 0.8 grams. Fruit size wise Baby is a blueberry. Yum I love blueberries - and they are high in antioxidants which are great for mom and baby. :)

I am so excited for this week - since finding out when my first appointment would be the Monday after finding out I was pregnant - this has been the first countdown date I've been anticipating. Yes, Thursday of this week - our family gets to see our baby! Yep at 7 weeks and 4 days we get to meet Baby TIME and check out their heartbeat and their growing self. :) Ace will join us to meet his sibling.

And FINALLY this weekend, I will be telling my family! Loving Husband's sister is also coming to town and we'll be able to tell her in person and she will be our courier with the news to his mom at the end of the weekend. Which means once June rolls over we'll be able to go 'public' with all this. Which is exciting. :) We can't wait to share our news with everyone!

I am still exhausted, having a lot more nausea - I'd say more than I did with Ace. I sleep whenever I can - although that does NOT mean I go to bed early. It's just not in my nature. ;-) But they always say - a tired/sick momma means the babe is growing strong! So grow baby grow! Can't wait to see you in three days!!!

Twenty-One Months Old

Goodness gracious! I almost have a two year old. Yikes! When on earth did this happen??? Ace is growing and thriving and we as parents are loving every second of it. Every stage seems to be more and more fun!

Ace hasn't had a teeth update in a while, but he has one more officially almost all the way in and 3 more 'sharp' teeth poking through - they still are creeping extremely slowly through the surface. His final set of molars I think are also making some signs of movements under the gums, but I think the real level of teething for those are a still a ways off for him.

Health wise Ace has been doing pretty good. A few weeks ago he had a round with a runny nose, but it didn't slow him down much. He just needed his nose wiped A LOT and for being a squirmy little guy, he did very well with that task. He seems to be growing and according to the scale at PopPop's he weighs 21.6lbs - pretty decent for his slow rate of gaining weight (he was 20lbs at 18 months) He continues to gain height though and I swears seems taller every day.

Sleeping still isn't perfected, but it certainly is a vast improvement from what it was in January. His bed was recalled so he's simply sleeping on his mattress on the floor, but it works basically the same and actually has a shorter distance to fall out of bed. :) He in the last couple of weeks has been extending the hours he slept. The other night he slept from 9pm-6am and then toddled into our room for another 2 hours of snoozing. He's getting better and getting the rest he needs all on his own. He's doing great lately falling asleep without us having to sit in the room and awaiting him to render himself unconscious - we have gotten the routine down and he knows he is safe and we are able to leave the room after we finish saying his prayers. 90% of the time he falls asleep on his own now without one of us in the room waiting for it. The other Ace and I enjoyed ourselves a 'camp out' in the play room. I set up his tent and the air mattress for me, and he slept for 8 hours before he snuck another 2 with me on the air mattress. It was fun and he fell asleep under the 'stars' of his turtle nightlight. :)

His vocabulary continues to improve and adding more and more multiple syllable words daily. He doesn't often bring them up on his own, but repetition is his friend these days. That also means we have to watch what we say very carefully :)

Ace enjoyed his first dip of the season in the kiddie-pool this month a few weeks back with his cousin, Parker. He has enjoyed many many visits to the park with mom, dad, his grandparents. He is certainly an outdoorsy boy. He is getting really good at climbing up and going down slides all on his own. He enjoys playing in the neighborhood, although he could take or leave the other kids. He at the moment is a very independent player.

Ace has enjoyed a full day of play with his grandparents last Friday which allowed mom to get some free time, of which she is forever grateful for! And Ace spent another 24hrs with just his dad. They did great together and mom enjoyed a bachelorette party. :) Ace also has spent the last two weeks almost the entire time in Toddler-1 at church. He's growing up and gathering a bit more Independence away from his parents. Although being left in T-1 at chuch still musters quite a racket when we first leave :-# But it will get better, I'm sure.

Summer is coming - although the weather is hard pressed to relinquish it to us - and we're looking forward to lots of outdoor fun and excitement! :)

Seriously Fabulous

Ace is talking up a storm! He is growing every day and his understanding of language continues to advance in a rapid rate that is astonishing to ... well everyone. Yesterday, he repeated 'seriously' almost perfectly and 'fabulous' with his own twist 'fabuess' It is adorable. I love to hear his new words. I love that after he sneezes (or someone else does) he says 'bess you' (even when no one else is in the room!) I love that he asks to say 'prayers' every night before sleeping. I love that he comes over during his play time and asks for a 'hug' and when he wants me to hug him tighter he says 'hold' I love to hear him communicate with us. He makes me smile every day!

Flashback Friday

Exactly 5 years ago today Carrie and I were in San Francisco visiting my Aunt and Uncle on our first stop towards the NW on our road trip! It was a pretty bland trip mostly I-5 and not a lot of cool stuff to look at, we were limited on time and I was anxious to get settled at my in-laws and start studying for the bar exam. However, while in San Fran we went to the infamous Pier 39 and enjoyed some lunch and and site seeing around the area. Coit Tower is what is what is off in the distance in this picture. It was a good visit. Lots of wine was consumed and good times were had. I always enjoy visiting with my Aunt and Uncle!

6 Weeks

Well they say that six weeks is the magic number for when morning sickness rears its ugly nausea - well indeed it was. All weekend I had waves of nausea and then on Sunday evening I had two good rounds with the porcelain-prince. Delightful I know. The encouraging thing is that this is much later in this pregnancy than when I first had the 'morning' sickness when pregnant with Ace. So hopefully it is less frequent this go around.

Baby TIME is the size of a sweet pea now and baby's blood has started to circulate and their heart has started to beat. Baby's brain has started to form which means lots of eating dark leafy vegetables for mom in order to allow baby to get as much smarts as they can soak up! Avocados are also rich in folic acid and are good for Ace's growing brain as well - so we tend to eat a lot of that right now.

Since Baby TIME has been growing at a rapid rate (doubling in size since last week once again) I have been exhausted. I don't recall being this tired when I was pregnant with Ace, but man oh man I am EXHAUSTED! Yesterday Loving Husband was kind enough to let me nap... for three hours. I woke up and still was tired. And not tired like I got too much sleep. Nope like I still needed more. But I was hungry so I needed to eat and feed Baby. Ace also did well to allow me to sleep in the night. He slept from 10pm until 6am! Eight uninterrupted hours! That's GREAT!!! I feel much less exhausted this morning and hoping that trend continues.

Thankfully, the belly hasn't gotten any bigger than the previous week - so until it grows again I'll be postponing pictures! :)

SUN!!

Oh SUN you have been missed. Sure you've stopped by a time or two - but this weekend, especially Friday you brought warmth with you!!! Oh happy day!!! Friday we went over to Gran and PopPop's and Ace got to play with his cousin. They had a good time in the pool.

Flashback Friday

One week and five years ago, I graduated from law school. Has it really been five years!? and that's ALL the dent I've made on those loans?! Yikes! Anywhoo - three years of law school was quite the experience. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work and not a lot of sleep... ok extremely little sleep. However, it was one of the best times in my life. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. I really was in my element in law school, writing legal argument papers; although I still hated to be called on the spot - DARN that Socrates! It was a wonderful experience - one that I loved but am not up to repeat again - ever.

PUSH!

Ace is always a joy! He's so fun to watch grow and listen to him talk and tell us about his (and our) world. He's got an extensive vocab, but sentences are often still spoken in his own language. He loves to ride in anything that we can push him in or on... including his very tiny Radio Flyer that flowers came in after he was born. It normally holds a few stuffed animals in his room, however the other day - it held Ace. Bossy Ace :)

5 Weeks

Within a week Baby TIME has doubled in size - whew I bet s/he's tired! S/he's now 2mm long. On the outside, s/he continues to expand momma's belly for no explicable reason other than her muscles are already trained to do so. It's only been 4 days since the last picture post, but this now gets us on schedule for a Monday post - so here's the belly at 5 weeks.


The jeans still button, but uncomfortably. In fact I've upgraded half the time to my 'fat' pants. There isn't any need for maternity jeans yet, but at this rate - they won't be far off! We're telling PopPop and Grammies soon. Looking forward to that. This is a very hard secret to keep. With Ace we told everyone before I reached 6 weeks!
I haven't really had any cravings, nor have I had any morning sickness. I've certainly had bouts of exhaustion, but those seem to be combated by eating a bit more regularly and healthily. So I'm trying to be mindful of that and do those things. Water ALL the time seems to help. They say pregnant women pee way more - I just think it's because we drink way more than we typically do. :)

Weather

What a difference a few days makes.

Tuesday.....

Saturday!

A Mother's Day

I got to sleep in. That was my request for the day. I didn't want to go anywhere special, I didn't want to do anything fancy, I wanted to sleep in. Ahhh what a loving husband I have! Yep he let me sleep in and I enjoyed doing so. Then I woke up and the boys were gone buying supplies for breakfast - so I took a long hot shower and got dressed in uninterrupted peace. Ahhh. Then Loving Husband cooked me breakfast and I played with my little guy out on our deck in the 70' sun. Bliss!

Ace took a two hour nap (yay!) and I spent that time putting books on our new bookshelves (my Mother's Day present!) It was a very relaxing day with my boys and I am so blessed and thankful to have them in my life.

Showing??

Ok the baby is the size of a bb, a poppy seed, a period... like one of these: "." how on earth am I showing already?! This was my thought nearly 2 weeks ago now. Ok it isn't that unheard of - apparently the muscles are already stretched (and how!) from the first pregnancy (and there was certainly NO sits ups or tone-inducement occurring on this belly!) and the uterus is also reminded HEY I remember what to do and so it just goes for it. So while I understand the science behind it - I still find it disconcerting when I am required to unbutton my pants when I can barely produce a plus sign on a stick. Since we knew we were going to try to get pregnant I decided to take a 'before' picture. Or for those of you that wanted an 'after' picture when I was pregnant with Ace - you can consider this my 'after' picture. :)

I had a flat tummy. I was actually underweight (a small factor in why I quit breastfeeding Ace) and last I check even though my jeans weren't fitting so hot I hadn't gained any yet. However the belly seems to be altering rapidly. Like with my first pregnancy my belly in the evening seems to pop out more. And after I eat dinner - I look like I'm 3 months pregnant - no matter how little I eat. It's bizarre. None the less at the time this picture was taken the baby is just over 1mm long, I was 4 weeks and 4 days pregnant. But already had a roomy home. These pictures were taken mid-afternoon and no food had been consumed recently. That's all... baby?



Sundays are the day that I start a new week of pregnancy, so I'll attempt to provide new photos each week in these early weeks. Those posts are likely to show up on Mondays :)

Collard Greens

Yes there's a true southern girl in me - and I love collard greens. There are lots of different ways to prepare them - often enjoying reducing these greens into leafy 'snot' but I didn't go that route this time. I decided instead to cook it up to just a nice degree of 'cooked' - there wasn't really a recipe this time. No more there was another round of searching the fridge and using what we had. I chopped up a bunch (not a lot ... but how they are packaged in the store) of collard greens and put them over the heat with chicken broth, salt, pepper, and garlic pepper. Then I added in a whole onion, tomatos, and hot dogs.

Sound familar? Yah it really was a similar recipe to what I used the other day - but the ingredients we had in our house were still the same and a family needs to eat - it actually have completely different flavors since the collard greens has flavoring all their own. And my husband approved! Before he nearly gagged when I said I liked collard greens. I think he invisioned them in the 'snot' form. I have to say I like it that way too :) Actually I prefer my turnip greens that way. Maybe I'll make some of those as well.

Sorry for the poor quality, I used the cell phone for this shot.

Flashback Friday

A year ago tomorrow it was the Saturday before Mother's Day. Ace and his parents went to the park and he loved to swing with his momma. He was a little over 8 months old. Pulling himself up into a standing position, but not quite taking those first steps just yet. He loves the swing and going down the slide with his dad. It was a good afternoon in the park.

Where to?

I know no one will read this for at least another month - and by then we likely will have decided... but I'll capture our my thoughts here and now.

You see Loving Husband thought we should go away - a 'babymoon' of sorts. Under no circumstances did he phrase it as such, but that's the popular term these days and that's essentially what it is. So we began talking about Italy again - then we looked at ticket prices... ouch - we really need to want to go (and we do!) for those prices. So after he headed off to sleep my mind continued to reel and so I continued to comb the internet and my brain for insight and ideas. How will I feel after a 13 hour flight? Can I walk around as much as I would like? Do I want to sit on a beach or will I just feel like a beached whale? Do I want to do some east coast touring? Bed and Breakfast? Epcot Center? My knee jerk answers of 'no' to several things started to sound more appealing --- but are they? The debate continues.

Florence, Italy
I really want to go back to Italy and Florence is next on our list of places to visit. But like any touring around an ancient city that involves a lot of walking - plus being in Tuscany without being able to drink?? Not sure that's smart! The ticket cost to get there is pretty pricey, not a deal breaker but certainly an investment. When we first started talking about it this was my favorite option - but the more I weigh the pros and cons and what-ifs the less ideal Italy is sounding at this time. Sad!

Hawaii
My knee jerk reaction was NO WAY. Why would I want to be in a bathing suit when I'm fat pregnant?? But then the idea of lounging on a beach, or wandering around looking at water falls and beautiful sunsets seemed more the speed that a 20(ish) week pregnant woman would enjoy. If my feet were swollen I could lounge on the beach. I won't be hideously pregnant so a tasteful maternity swimsuit would be pretty cute. Plus I've never been to Hawaii - my husband has been several times and loves it - so he'd know just where to go.

East Coast
A much shorter flight and perhaps some fun scenery, perhaps a nice Bed and Breakfast to relax in and take in some quaint town. Or maybe another trip to New York and catch a Broadway show or two (can't do THAT with a baby!)

Last night when I went to sleep I was sold on an East Coast adventure... but today I'm leaning more toward Hawaii and I think almost entirely ruled out Italy, which makes me sad - but I really want to enjoy Italy and take in as much as I possibly can - and I won't be able to do that if I'm swollen, sore, achey, or any other of the 'lovely' things that come with pregnancy.

Proof is in the Plus Sign

As I mentioned on the 28th of April I first found out I was pregnant - by the way the 'First Response' did detect that I was pregnant 5 days before my period would have started - so their advertisment is accurate!

The line was super faint, but I've never had a false positive and those are extremly rare. No one usually has hCG hormones floating around in their body unless they are or trying to be pregnant. So I decided to wait and test again after I officially missed my period - and so today I took another test. And it definatively was a + sign. So I contacted our OB/GYN and scheduled our first appointment - which the doctor usually prefers to be between 8 and 10 weeks, but I asked for an earlier appointment since I'm traveling to San Diego on the 29th of May and was hoping to have an ultrasound picture to accompany me for my announcement! They fit me in! I have an appointment for the 27th. I'm very excited. :)

Afterward, I took the commerative photos and Ace got ahold of it and I snapped a few more... these of which CRACK ME UP!

Crib Recalled

Yes unfortunately we are amid the group of the latest crib recalls. Although I don't really foresee any issue with Ace sleeping in this bed as a problem, I'd hate to keep it around and find out that the problem rears it ugly head whenever we have child number 2 - and by then the recall will be so stale they won't give us a refund or exchange because we should have done it earlier - or something. So while I think Ace probably is a-ok in his recalled bed - we'll still be returning it tomorrow - because while I think he'd be fine and even future siblings most like would be... how stupid of a thing to be terribly wrong on? So dismantling is in Loving Husband's future.

Ace got one last good snooze in it this afternoon - and he'll continue to sleep on his mattress until we replace his bed. We're contemplating what to do next. Do we buy another convertible crib and set it up as a toddler bed like our current arrangement - or do we simply buy him a twin and go full steam ahead with a big-boy bed with safety rails? I think it will depend on if Target gives us cash or store credit :)

If you're unaware of the latest crib recall, click here and here.

An Announcement!

I love to surprise people. I love the anticipation that builds within me as I am scheming to pull off surprises - and what better surprise that annoucing to your husband that you're pregnant! Now it wasn't like totally unexpected (contrary to his joke in the video.) In fact we were "trying" to get pregnant. Wednesday morning I peed on a stick. And on Wednesday night ... later than I had hoped (9:30pm) I got to announce to Loving Husband.

Since we had been plotting to add to our family and knowing my inability to keep THIS big of a secret for THAT long I had gone ahead and purchased Ace a t-shirt and decided that when I was pregnant that would be how I announced it to Loving Husband. Wednesday was a busy day so most of it sped by. Loving Husband said he'd be home late, around 7:30, so around 7pm (after dinner of course) I put Ace in his new shirt and he proudly posed for a few pictures.


Around 8:30, LH was STILL at work. 8:30 is bedtime normally for Ace.... Ace was trooper though sitting next to me awaiting the arrival of his dad so that he could play his part in the excitement.

This is how it went down!

Our first 'family of four' photo