Beach Vacation and 18 & 19 week Update!

We just got back from a trip to Emerald Isle, NC with Lila! Luckily my parents joined us, or I'm not sure we would've made it through the 7 days! Actually, we did have a lot of fun with her, but traveling and staying away from home with a 2.5 year old is pretty exhausting. This was Lila's first time at the beach and seeing the ocean.

Flying a kite

She loved it and was not scared AT ALL! It would have been easier on us if she did have some fear of the water, honestly. She was so brave that she would run into the ocean (luckily we brought her lifejacket) and let the waves knock her down and she'd just laugh. She was basically trying to body surf the whole time and wanted to go out further and deeper. Little daredevil!

At the pier

There was SOME of this!

And only a bit of this!

She also barely sat down and played in the sand, so relaxing was pretty non-existant. At least one of us was chasing her in and out of the water and making sure she didn't float away! My parents did watch her for some lunchtimes and naps (when she would take one!) so Neil and I could relax a bit. Thank goodness for Lila's wonderful grandparents.

Granddad and Lila time

Loving on Grandma

 But all and all it was a really fun trip! We ate lots of good seafood and ice cream, I somehow managed to finish a book, and most importantly we got some great time with Lila and made a lot of fun memories! Lila loved having a week with her Grandma and Granddad. What a special time.

Our mini-golf champ

18 weeks at the mini golf course :)

My cutie discovering she loves raisins

Neil under the shade of our Sport-brella!

While we were gone I "turned" 18 weeks and I will be 19 weeks tomorrow. I am feeling lots of kicks and taps and rolls from the little one. It's so amazing! This is the best part of pregnancy. Nothing can explain the feeling of your child moving around inside you! It's truly amazing and I'm so excited to meet this baby in a few months. For me, the true bonding and connection with the baby starts with movement and with finding out the gender!!! I hate calling baby an "IT" and once I know boy or girl and can name the baby, I really start to connect and bond with him/her.

We find out boy or girl in 8 DAYS!!!! If you can't tell, I am over the moon excited!! I cannot wait to see our little one again! We had an ultrasound at 11 weeks and I'm sure the baby is so much bigger. I of course also cannot wait to ensure that the baby is healthy and everything is going well with his or her growth. Of course that is the most important part. But I'm just so excited to find out if we will have two little girls or one boy and one girl! I really don't care either way, but I NEED to know! Since we are done after 2 children, this baby will complete our family, boy or girl, so I just want to know what I'm in for.

Here is my photo update for the week and I will for sure update next week with details from the 20 week ultrasound and whether we are expecting more pink or some blue! Woohoo!

Baby #2: 16 and 17 Weeks

I will be 17 weeks this Wednesday! Wow! This pregnancy is flying by and half the time I forget I'm pregnant. This pregnancy has been so easy so far I can see now how someone could not know they were pregnant. I always thought that was crazy, but other than not having a period, I could truly dismiss most of my other mild symptoms and just think I was crazy bloated or just getting fat from eating too many carbs.

I did wake up in the middle of the night on Friday in a lot of pain. It felt almost like labor! Very bad cramps and back pain. So much so that I had to wake Neil up to help me! He rubbed my back and got me Tylenol and a heat pack. I was a little freaked out that something might be wrong, but I think it was just uterus stretching and soreness from working out. Glad that's over!

I have a lot more energy now, so I'm trying to take walks everyday and I've started adding some yoga and strength training. I haven't worked out regularly in 6+ months, so it's time to get moving! I gained close to 50 lbs with Lila and I am hoping to keep it under 35 lbs with this one and I think exercise will help me a lot!

We have marked a few other things off the baby-related to-do list. I got a new car! We replaced my 9-year-old tiny manual everything (but transmission) Chevy Aveo with a 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid with less than 200 miles on it and power everything, leather seats, awesome sunroof and touch screen navigation. I'm feelin' fancy and life and commute are much smoother with power locks and more space! We also ordered and received another video monitor just like the one we use with Lila. We love it and wanted to get another camera and receiver. Done!

Lila talks about "her" baby a lot. She kisses my belly and thinks she has a baby in her belly too. The other day after we got home she said, "I want to check my baby." She went to my bedside table and got the doppler, headphones and gel and started putting it on her belly and rubbing the doppler around. I also overheard her "talking to her sister" on her fake phone. She mentions "her sister" often. It's so stinkin' cute. I hope she understands if sister is actually a brother. So excited to find out in 23 DAYS! Not that I'm counting down or anything!

Well here is my 16/17 week update and belly shot. I'm wearing stripes again and sorry for the blurry photo. It's the best I could do today!

Baby #2: 15 Weeks

I was 15 weeks on Wed. July 3, but with the 4th of July holiday and a sick toddler, I haven't been able to post this update until now! Everything is good with me and baby. I went to my 15 week checkup on Wednesday and the heart rate was 153 and everything was good. The appt. was quick because I just don't have anything abnormal happening. I did ask the doctor about VBAC which I do at each appointment, but nothing else to report. They did say I'm not really gaining much weight, but not to worry. I don't think I've gained much since I first went in to the doctor at 8 weeks, but I am up about 7 lbs since before I found out I was pregnant. 

I also scheduled my anatomy ultrasound appointment and 20 week visit for Aug. 7. I'm a little miffed it's not for the week earlier. I was really hoping to know the health and sex of the baby before August. July 31 was the date I had in my mind. But my OB changed the rules about anatomy ultrasounds from 18-20 weeks to 20-22 weeks so they can make sure to detect abnormalities, etc. I guess we will be able to be pretty certain on the gender by then. Lila's ultrasound was at 18 weeks and a few days. I am SO tempted to get an early elective ultrasound because they can tell the gender at 16 weeks! But both my mom and Neil said it was ridiculous to pay $99 to find out a few weeks early when it doesn't accomplish anything other than satisfying my curiosity. So we will know on August 7th! I'm so excited to see the baby again, make sure it's healthy and find out the sex. I am thinking it's another girl at the moment! 

In other news, we bought Lila a new big girl bed from Ikea, but it is still in the box in the garage. We are planning on spray painting it white as soon as the rain stops enough to do it. I got my awesome Ergo carrier in the mail and it is super nice. I love the pattern and the fact that I can use it for Lila now and for the baby when it arrives. I also started looking through bins in the basement and found a lot of my newborn and breastfeeding stuff. I also located 4 or 5 giant bins of Lila's outgrown clothing. It'll be nice to know whether we'll be using it again or can give it away/sell it!

I'll update again soon because I will be 16 weeks on Wednesday!

A Lila update: 28 months old!

Lila is still being hilarious so I wanted to share some of the things she's been saying and doing. And I love sharing some of her latest pictures too! This child is pure joy with a side of frustration! That probably sums up most 2 year olds, I imagine.

Lila is excited about the baby, but I think she's getting some wires crossed somewhere. Neil asked her the other day what is going to happen at Christmas time, and she said, "Santa is going to come out of mommy's belly." Hmm.

If we try to get her to say something difficult like a name or longer word.. she says, "I don't know. That's hard to do."

Lila is extremely loving and affectionate, but twice over the last day or so, when she was mad at Neil and I for whatever reason, she has said, "I not love you." How awful is that?!!? I am trying to ignore that so she doesn't use it against us again, but WOW!

It's summer so we get ice cream a lot. Everywhere we go she wants a pink ice cream. So we have sampled the strawberry ice cream and sorbet of almost every Cincinnati-area ice cream place - well, at least the egg-free ones!

Everyday on the way home, we drive by this weird life-sized Barbie that is holding a sign for a mattress store. Lila talks to this Barbie everyday and it's hilarious. She says, "Barbie, I want to touch you. I want to hug you, Barbie. Barbie, are you hot? Do you need some water? Barbie, what are you doing? I like your hair Barbie. Bye big Barbie! See you tomorr-no!!"

When Lila got her first face paint this last Saturday, she sat down in the chair, pointed to her cheek and said, "I want a pink butterfly, right here." Girl knows what she wants!

This past Sunday, Neil and I were working on blowing insulation into our attic in the middle of a 90+ degree day! I was outside in my bathing suit stuffing ground up newspaper into a machine (it was much more labor intensive than it sounds) while watching Lila. I was checking on her every few minutes and she was coming outside every once in a while. She basically had the run of the house for 4 hours. While she was restricted to the living room and kitchen (and backyard) and couldn't get ahold of anything dangerous, she had a field day doing whatever she wanted! 

She raided the pantry - eating cereal and cheddar bunnies out of the box and ripping open tea bags. At one point she kept bringing out different boxes and packets out to me saying, "Is this chocolate milk?" So I went in and made her chocolate milk. She went potty (#2) unsupervised on her own IN THE POTTY! She walked outside naked saying, "I pooped!" And I walked in expecting it to be anywhere but in the potty, but alas, there it was. Amazing.

Amanda caught Lila peeing outside, leg hiked up, "peeing like Teddy", Amanda's dog. She is kind of infatuated with peeing outside in the grass now. 

My last funny story involves Wendy's. It's one of the few fast food places we can safely go with her because most things are egg-free, even the frosties (she always requests white ice cream). Well, for some reason Lila is fixated on Wendy. And when she is eating she talks to Wendy, and says "I have to take baby bites or Wendy will be sad." Or she will say, "Wendy is watching me!" So funny. She was also delighted at my Starbucks cup the other day, "Look, Mommy, it's Wendy!"

There are so many other little stories here and there. Lila is so quick and smart and remembers everything. She is a great helper and will be a great big sister! Sometimes I can't believe the amount of energy this child has, and Neil and I are so hoping for a calm, mellow, zen baby #2. We love our hyper Lila but we are hoping a calmer baby will give us some balance!

Baby #2: 14 Weeks and 2nd Trimester!

Here we are, officially in the 2nd trimester! I'm very happy to be at 14 weeks. Everything is going okay. I have had a cold for the last week or so, and that is really wearing me down. I also overdid it helping Neil blow in insulation into our attic on Sunday, so I am very sore and exhausted! I feel like I did a ton of crunches and I most definitely did not. I think I'm also feeling some growing pains in my belly as well.

I am also so tired when I get home from work. I honestly think the commute is the toughest part! I'm just spent after a full day at work, wrestling Lila into the car, driving home then having to figure out dinner/cook and do all the house stuff plus of course enjoy Lila! Luckily Neil does SO much and let's me relax. My body just shuts down and I can't do anymore! This is going to get so much worse too the bigger and more uncomfortable I get! Not looking forward to that.

I have my next checkup in about a week at 15 weeks. I'm not expecting much for this appointment, but I'm excited to schedule my ultrasound and 19 week appointment! I can't believe we are almost to that point of the pregnancy! It is killing me not knowing what this baby is, I just want to know already. I am leaning girl at the moment. I would be thrilled to have another girl! But I think it'd be fun to have a boy too. I really would just like to know NOW. Can't wait to find out in about a month!

I've been checking baby's heartbeat on the doppler a couple times a week. It's been in the 150s for the most part. I actually couldn't find it at all on Friday night and was a little scared, but woke up Sat. morning and there it was! I love my doppler! Checked it again yesterday and the heart rate was 160.

Here is my update for this week... I think these are going to get boring after about 26 more weeks of them! I'm also interested to see how many weeks I am wearing stripes. So far we are 3 for 4!

Baby #2: 13 Weeks

I'm still kind of amazed at how easy this pregnancy has been (so far)! Other than some extreme tiredness in the beginning weeks and a few mild symptoms off and on, I've felt really good! With Lila, I never threw up or had to miss work or anything but I remember battling some nausea and migraines in the first trimester. The second trimester, which I am entering soon (I never know if it starts with week 13 or 14) is when most people feel the best. And then weeks 27 to birth usually suck for everyone! I don't think I was too miserable until 37 weeks or so and then I had another 4 weeks of pregnancy. Joy!

So I have some countdowns going. We have 5 weeks until our beach vacation to Emerald Isle, NC and 6 weeks until we find out the sex of the baby! I am actually getting really anxious to know. I don't care either way, but I just want to know really badly! I think the big ultrasound is the time when everything starts getting real and the planning starts happening! I am starting to get less anxious and more excited now!

Speaking of planning, there is not much to do to get ready this time. Once we get Lila transitioned to a big girl bed (may not happen by December, which is fine!) I will move the crib into the guest room. I want to paint that room a nice neutral gray. If this baby is a girl, I think I will accent with purple or yellow and if it's a boy with blue or green. Not exactly sure. It may depend more on what curtains and comforter I find that I like! I am planning on keeping the queen bed in the room and having it be dual purpose. I hope to eventually have Lila and the new baby (regardless of gender) share one room so the nursery/guest room is temporary. I just don't really want to go all out on another nursery. Sorry baby #2 :)

I have made my first baby purchase! I got a great deal on this Ergo carrier. Brand new under $100 with shipping - and it's a cute pattern! I also need to get a new breast pump from my insurance company, buy or borrow boy clothes if needed and go through/dust off baby stuff that is in storage. We have all the big things and they are all gender neutral for the most part. I will need to buy little things like pacifiers and burp cloths. We might get another receiver for our video monitor. I'm not planning to get a double stroller initially because I am hoping to use the Ergo most of the time. If we pick out a name early enough I will make letters or something for the door or over the crib.

I also wanted to add that Neil and I finally got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler! I bought a $30 AngelSounds Fetal monitor for my last pregnancy, and it is great! It doesn't really work until 12 or 13 weeks, but I was really happy to find the heartbeat last night. It was 156. I have been trying off and on since 9 weeks or so! It is a great reassurance to know everything is okay before you start feeling kicks all the time.

Oh and I wanted to show a recent pic of Big Sis Lila. This is her swinging before meeting friends at the Miami Whitewater Splash park last week. She actually enjoyed the swinging more than the water, but what can you do!

Here is my update for 13 weeks!

Baby #2: 12 Weeks

Here we are, already 3 months along with baby #2! It is definitely going by faster this time. We found out in mid-April and we were a bit shocked because it was our first month trying and because of travel our chances seemed slim. I was temping/charting and using the Fertility Friend app and it actually said "Pregnancy chances = low" so we thought we'd be avoiding a Christmas baby. But, nope! We are definitely expecting and my due date has been confirmed 12-25-13!

I have mixed feelings on the Christmas due date. I really love Christmas but I think it might be a crappy time to have a birthday. I don't want this child to feel neglected! So if his or her birthday ends up being between Dec 23-27 I think we might want to observe the birthday earlier/later or even in June!

The other due date difficulty is that if I go overdue (which is likely since Lila was born at 41 weeks and 3 days) we will be having a January baby and paying an insurance deductible for both 2013 and 2014. It's also confusing for insurance when your entire pregnancy is in one year and the birth and hospital stay is in another. But these are really small things when you look at the big picture.

I am sure I will post about this topic a lot, but I am hoping to deliver this baby VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I am scared out of my mind but after doing a lot of research I really do think it is the best option. I've been told that I'm a good candidate and as long as I go into labor on my own by 42 weeks I will be given the opportunity to try for the VBAC. If not, I will have to have a c-section because they won't do any induction techniques at all. I know I have 6 months but it is hard not to worry about such a big decision! I definitely have had times where I've changed my mind and just want the c-section. I am not sure how I will feel as December gets closer.

Here is my Week 12 update!