Weeks 19 and 20!

I cannot believe we are more than halfway through! These last few months have flown by! Everything is going great! I am super busy with work, which is not a bad thing. I just haven't had time to post as much as I would like. I am really trying to soak up my alone time with Emily, since in a few short months I will go from being a mother of 1 to a mother of 2. I want to cherish these days with just Emmy and watch her really transition from my baby girl to my amazing big girl. She keeps us on our toes, and we love it. Anyway, as expected, there are no pictures from week 19, but here are some from week 20. This post is super late, since technically I am pretty much 21 weeks, but who is counting!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 19 and 20 weeks
Size of baby: According to the Bump, the size of an mango and a canteloup! REALLY?? A canteloup?? That seems much bigger than a mango...meh
Total Weight Gain/Loss:I am not sure, but I am sure it's probably a lot because I am hungry all.the.time.
Maternity Clothes: Pretty much still pants, and some tops. My belly is growing everyday though
Movement: Yep. Lots of sweet little thumps. I love it! Mostly at night when I am just starting to relax.
Sleep:Not too bad. I use a pillow to help prop me on my side, which allows me to sleep a little more on my stomach, so I am sleeping pretty good.
What I miss: I am too busy to really miss anything, but I really do miss a nice glass of red wine.
Cravings: Food in general. I can't get enough. I really do need to start watching what I eat though.
Symptoms: Other than feeling the baby move, and eating a ton, nothing really. My headaches seem to have subsided. ::knock on wood:: Maybe the chiropractor really worked!
Best moment this week:Finding out it's another girl! And planning out Emmy's room!

Here is a picture from week 20. You can find my belly pics from week 19 and 20 with Emily here and here. I would say I am definitely bigger this go round :)

The difference of just one year!

Today Emmy and I went on a field trip with her class to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It is amazing to me how much she has changed in the last year!! Check out the difference!!

2010


and 2011


It's totally crazy to me how much she has changed, yet how much has stayed the same. She still has the same silly grin, she is just bigger, has longer hair, and a heck of a lot more teeth. I didn't realize how much the gap between her two front teeth had closed. Here are a couple more pictures from our day. We had the best time! Ate lots of food, pet lots of animals, slide down the slide with Mr. Mike, and picked out a teenie tiny Emmy sized pumpkin.

PS getting my child to smile for the camera is next to impossible.



Checking out the bunnies



Checking out all the animals. The girls loved this!

"Hehe, he "yicked" me mommy!"


I just love their little shadows!

Sliding with Mr. Mike

Rocking out to the awesome band!


Yeah, I would say she had a good time. Can't wait for next year!

My kid is like Rockstar Amazing!

Seriously. She is the easiest kid in the world. I know I say this from a very biased perspective, but honestly she has been so go with the flow, not a worry in the world, "Mom you want me to stop drinking from a bottle, done", "You want me to give up my paci, no problem," "You want me to sleep in a big girl bed, EASY." That's right, easy. She transitioned like she had been sleeping in a big girl bed her whole life. She whined for a minute, but quickly settled in for both bed time and naps. Naps these days have been a bit of a struggle on the weekends because she would rather play, but now, no big deal. She will still cry for a second, but it is more to see if we will give in than anything. Not a real cry. Just a whine.

So we made the move last Friday night. In preparation for the big change, and the new baby, we invested in a new video monitor that allows us to have 2 cameras, one for each girls room. In addition to that, the new camera allows us to pan around the room, which is helpful for if and when Emmy decides to get out of bed, we can scan the room and see what she is doing. So back to Friday, we never purchased the toddler rail for her bed, so after work we went to Babies 'R Us, to pick up a universal one. I had seen some online for like $20 bucks and thought perfect. Little did I know, their stock of these did not exist. Instead, you had to purchase a wood one that was $70. No that still is not a ton of money, but our plan was to transition Em to a bed, and then make a huge deal to move her to a big girl room, since we are going to put the baby in her room. I didn't want to pay $70 for a couple weeks of use and then have to store the thing in the closet for the next 2 years. Anyway, long story short, Zig and I made the decision to forgo the rail. Don't judge. Her bed literally sits on the floor. So we headed home, took off the front of the crib and Em was pumped! She jumped on the bed for a good 15 minutes before we put her in her jammies and got her ready for bed. We made a big deal about what a big girl she was, and she was so incredibly proud (and so were we!). I sat with her for a minute after reading her a dozen books, and finally kissed her good night and left. She sat up, cried for about 2 minutes, then laid down and passed out. We didn't hear a peep from her until the next morning. Me being the paranoid (and pregnant lady who has to pee about 10 times a night) mom that I am, I woke up and checked the monitor a few times. At one point I noticed she was sleeping on the floor next to her bed, so I assume she rolled out but she never woke up. I checked again at my next pee break and she had climbed back in. It has been smooth sailing ever since. She is actually easier to put to bed now than she has been in months.


So now we begin the shopping for the big girl furniture. I have asked her a couple of times what she wants her big girl room to look like, and her only request is that it be pink. Once we get the guest room furniture sold, we will start on her room. I think I am more excited than she is. I have always liked her nursery, but now I am excited to go all out on her room because now I think she will really appreciate it.


That being said, since baby # is a girl, we will likely just keep the same bedding and decorations for the new baby. Sounds lame, but once again, we will make a big deal about her big girl room when she is ready and I think it will be more worth it to go all out when she can appreciate it too.


Anyway, long story short. I love my little Emmy. I just pray that we are as lucky with this next little girl and she is at least have as easy as Em.

Sorry this one is a little blurry. She was jumping around like a maniac at this point.

Emily 22 months

My sweet, sweet little Emily.So I have had this post written for a week, but I didn't have picutes uploaded to add to it, so it has been sitting lonely in my pending posts for a week! I think you will all forgive me when you see the cuteness that is my sweet Emmy below.

Her vocabulary and ability to put together crazy sentences continues to amaze me. She is an AMAZING communicator and continues to learn everyday.

-She eats great at school. Not so great at home for dinner. We are working on it. It has been really tough with my food aversions to offer her what we are eating, because honestly we are eating like crap. She eats a lot of peanut butter and jelly, which she really doesn't seem to mind, when she actually feels like eating dinner that is.
-She is obsessed with cheetos and cinnamon toast waffles. (She gets the reduced fat Trader Joe's cheese puffs and whole grain waffles) Shewould live on that if we let her.
-Sleep. Oh sleep. She has been going through these crazy sleep changes where she sleeps awesome and then sleeps terrible. Right now she sleeps great, she just doesn't want to go to sleep right away, which usually results in about 10 mins of tears before she settles down. We are planning to take off the front of her crib next weekend to start the big transition. We got a great new monitor that allows us to move the camera all around the room, which I think will be great when we make the big move. :)I think she is ready.
-She is getting 2 new molars, which leaves her with only 2 more teeth to go. This could also play a part in why her sleep and eating habits have been off.
-She has a new found love for Sophie the giraffe again this month. Her buddies now include Sophie, Howie and Lamby. They go everywhere together.
-She loves to read, but thinks board books are for babies. She likes big girl books and actually takes really good care of them. We read several books each night before bed. It's actually pretty fun to put her down for bed because she is so snuggly. That is until it is time to actually lay her down for the night. That's not so fun.
-She loves Crocs and hates socks. She actually slept in a pair of her crocs the other night.
-Any time she gets hurt, she insists we "siss" it. Everyone in the room must kiss her owie.
-She loves to take your nose, but hates to give it back. She is so funny because she will take it and then run and put it on the wall. You have to beg for her to give it back, and when she finally gives in, she will retrieve your nose from the wall and return it. If you try and hold her nose hostage, well you are just playing with fire.
-She refers to all cats as "Charlie". Charlie is Miss Stephanie's cat. She loves him. She has memorized the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." If you name the color, she knows what animal is next. When you get to the purple cat, she will tell you it is a purple Charlie. It's pretty cute.
-She is making progress on the potty, but we are still not pushing it. If she asks to go, we take her. Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't, but she ALWAYS wipes and flushes. We will probably really start trying in December. I am planning on moving her into her new room in November and don't want to push to much on her too quickly. I think once we actually committ to it, she will pick it up pretty quickly.
-She can count to 10, but she is no show pony. She will do it and many things on her own time and not because you asked. She also knows most of her alphabet, but sometimes you have to chime in to keep her going. We are working on the sounds the letters make now. We have been watching the Leap Frog Letter factory and she is really picking up on the sounds, which is fun.
-She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Loves it.
-She can tell you the sound of every letter of the alpahbet and will tell you her name if you ask.

And here are a million pictures. You.Are.Welcome. :)

We took Emmy to the Balloon Fiesta earlier this month. She loved it. She kept telling us, "Boon FLYING NOW." There was a shark balloon that she thinks was Baby Beluga (have I mentioned that she LOVES Baaby Belgua. I mean LOVES. She asks to hear the song a million times in our 10 minute car ride to school) Anyway, She yelled "Baby Beluga, FLYING NOW." For days after. Clearly she is obsessed with baloons too. Look at the picture below. She could not stop starting at them.


Emmy and her new buddy Sophia.
Getting her to smile at was impossible.
Fun at Greek Fest!
Having fun with Auntie Becca while we are out of town. Check out the jammies Aunt Koley gave her. They glow in the dark. Awesome.
Seriously Chic.
Emmy and her buddies. Lamby, Howie and Sophie. They go every where together. Everywhere.
This was after a night where she didn't want to sleep. She woke up at 3 am, but was in the best mood ever. Till she was down for the count after lunch.

Cheese ball
Reading about "Baby Beluga"
Love this face
Bath time is always fun with Auntie Becca!
Fun at school
They went on a field trip to the mountains. She looks like an old lady. lol
Giving Max a bath

Baby Zig #2 is a.....

GIRL!! We are over the moon excited. I am not going to lie, a little piece of me ached knowing that we may not ever have a boy, but we are far from disappointed. God has blessed us with two very special pregnancies. We are not ungrateful and we will love this baby without limits, and always would have no matter the gender. All we ever wanted was a healthy baby and that we have. Emmy has been such a sweet blessing, that adding another sweet little girl to the mix is going to be perfect. Who knows, we may be blessed with a boy down the line like my mom was. At this point though, paying for 2 weddings is enough. ;)

I have a lot of pictures, so I will try and get some more posted later. She was very active, and it made it hard to get some really good face shots, but she is healthy and measuring right on track. Let the name discussions begin!

Similarities and Differences

First of all, I look like HELL in the weekly pictures we have been taking. Good Lord! I may have to start cropping my head off. I am really considering changing where I take those weekly pictures. Whoa. Yes, I am totally blaming the lighting! A picture for week 19 is also not looking so promising this week because I have zero motivation to change out of my sweats or put make up on today. Anyway,here are some of the similarities and differences I have noticed between my 2 pregnancies so far.

Similarities
-Morning sickness
-Exhaustion and general laziness
-I don't have to shave my legs that often (SCORE!)
-Average skin. I have never had great skin, but I haven't broken out like some do
-Chicken grosses me out big time.

Differences
-Morning sickness. Yes I have it on both. While I have had morning sickness with both, it has been different. With Em, I couldn't eat anything. MAJOR AVERSIONS way past first tri. With this one, I was able to eat, but I threw up a lot more. My morning sickness pretty much went away right after 1st tri this time.
-Headaches. I never had any headaches with Emily.
-Steady weight gain, with Emily I didn't start gaining till I was more than half way through.
-My hair isn't as dry this go round, but that could have a lot more to do with my hair care routine in general.
-I am much bigger this go round. Showing a lot earlier.
-Craving salty foods, instead of sweet from last time.

Does any of this mean anything? Probably not. Guess we will know tomorrow! We are so excited to find out!

Emily's 22 month post is on my to do list. I haven't forgotten.

Weeks 17 and 18

I am so lazy, but at least I took pictures these last two weeks. Even though I am closer to 19 weeks when I actually get around to posting them. Things are going really good. No sickness for a while ::knock on wood:: and I am growing by the day. We had an appointment with the doctor last week and everything is moving along right on track and we scheduled our gender scan for next Monday!! I can't wait. People keep asking if I have a feeling either way and I really don't. I have a post planned for later this week with all the things that have been the same this pregnancy vs. different. We will both be totally happy and thrilled either way. Emily has been such a good little girl that we would be blessed to have another. Although, if this is a boy, then we will be happy to have one of each (an not feel inclined to see if third time is a charm ;) ). I am excited to find out what we are having because then I can really get started on Emmy's big girl room!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 16 and 17 weeks
Size of baby: According to the Bump, the size of an onion and a sweet potato!
Total Weight Gain/Loss:According to the doctors scale I am up 5 lbs. total. 3 in the last month, but she is not worried about the gain overall. This is a vast improvement over my gain with Emily, which was still in the negatives at this point last time. I just really need to focus on eating healthy, or I am going to pay for it after delivery!
Maternity Clothes: Pants and a couple tops, because I have them. I definitely look pregnant.
Movement: Little flutters. Especially when I first lay down at night.
Sleep: Pretty good. I am still able to sleep kind of on my tummy which is nice.--Same
What I miss: Haven't missed a whole lot really. Maybe I miss not being so tired?
Cravings: Still water. I have been loving salads lately too. Carbs, of course. No food in particular really. Still more salty/sour than sweet. Symptoms: Headaches. I mentioned that I was still having bad headaches and she gave me a prescription for when they are really bad. I also started going to the chiro because my tech has been really tight, and she mentioned that might have something to do with it. We will see how it goes for the next few weeks.
Best moment this week:Scheduling the u/s and getting excited for nursery/big girl room planning!

Here are some pictures from the last 2 weeks. Here is where you can see what I looked like last time around for week 18. I guess I forgot to take pictures for 17 weeks last time. I feel like I looked more pregnant last week than this week, and I definitely look more pregnant overall!!

Week 17


Week 18