17 weeks

Well here you have it folks, my turnip sized baby. It's a little crazy to see it compared to a quarter when starting out it was the size of a poppy seed. Whoa. I like these little comparison pics.

There's really not much to talk about this week. All seems to be on track. I haven't had as many "braxton hicks contractions" as I did my 15th week. Thank God because I don't like 'em.

I'm super excited about my next ultrasound...in...22 days...but who's counting eh?! HA! I'm still clueless about whether it's a boy or girl. No clue, nada, zilch, zeeeeero. You get the point. We have no idea and I like to have ideas. I like to have a plan. I like to be in the know. SO, you can imagine how exciting this is-to be soooo close to finding out. Yippee. Not to mention, I'll already be halfway through the pregnancy at that point. YEEHAW!

So bare with me, it's just a littttttle while looooonger until we know pink or blue.

it's official

She's two. **tear**

And since she's officially two I'll go ahead and share some pictures from her little birthday party last weekend. I really didn't get that many, which is totally a tragedy, but I got some.


^^^her Backyardigans cupcake cake-she loves the Backyardigans^^^


^^^swimming^^^


^^^taking Pablo off the cake-she loves Pablo^^^


^^^Parker, Kylee & Anna-Kate enjoying a cupcake^^^


^^^sugar overload for a kid without a nap^^^


^^^and lastly, her most useful gift, HAHA^^^

That about sums up the day. Swimming, cake and gifts. All the little kids seemed to enjoy themselves considering NONE of them had a nap that day. AK was so ready to sleep after it was over and everyone went home.

On another note, I have to get packing for a little weekend trip we're taking...starting tomorrow. The house has to be treated for scorpions, and yes, I said SCORPIONS!! We have to leave for a couple days because it usually stirs them up and they start coming out of the wood works. SCARY! I prefer not to have my two year making friends with scorpions so we're out of here. To where? you might be wondering. Well, to Victoria. Sean has quite a bit of family down there and we haven't been in a few months so we figured this would be just as good a time as any to make the trip. So off we go tomorrow afternoon. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend. I'll be back Sunday for my pregger post.

two years ago...

Two years ago this little princess entered the world

A year later we celebrated her first year of life with us

Now, two years later, we celebrate her first two years of life in our little family and we couldn't be more thankful and proud of this little girl
She is SUCH a blessing to her Mommy & Daddy and we love her so very much.


Anna-Kate Elizabeth,
Today you turn two. My eyes tear up when I think of the memories we have made with you over these first years of your life. We were shocked to find out about you after only four months of marriage but once you arrived it all seemed so natural. I was made to be your Mommy and I'm SO GLAD I was. My life has never been the same and it never will. You bring so much light and joy in such a complicated world. I'm so thankful for the little lady you are and I look forward to seeing you grow in leaps and bounds over this next year. Always remember, you are Mommy's princess.
Oh, and don't forget, you're doing to be a big sister soon. Lets get this potty training fiasco over with in one piece, okay?

With all the love I can give,
Mommy


In my eyes, she won't officially be two until 9:30 PM. Until then, she's still one.

16 weeks

**Update**

So, I went to the doctor today. He has scheduled me for an anatomy ultrasound on the 21st of September at 11:30 am. I am SOOOO excited! I cannot wait!

After that ultrasound he'll send me to a high risk pregnancy specialist who specializes in doing fetal echo-cardiograms. He wants to play it super safe with this kiddo and have an in-depth look at the heart before it's born just to make sure it doesn't have what AK had. Obviously, what AK has/had was no major deal because she's just about grown out of it BUT it was there before she was born even though they didn't detect it until she was about two months old. So he wants to get it done just to make sure all it well. Even though AK's pulmonary stenosis (narrowing of a valve) was mild and sounds better every time it's checked that doesn't mean it would be so great if the next baby has it. ANYWAYS, no need to freak out. He's just being cautious.

I asked him about some pressure and cramping I've been experiencing for the past week or so and he said it's braxton hicks. At first I was shocked that I could be having them so early on but he said that it's being caused from the uterus growing and contracting. No need for concern. I mentioned that I never had braxton hicks with the first and he said most women don't so he says I'm having second pregnancy syndrome. Haha. So that was quite interesting. Guess I'll start having to take it easy ;-).

I also mentioned that I've been having a TERRIBLE time getting sleep lately. For one, I'm uncomfortable and limited on sleeping positions with my fave being tossed out for now and two, my husband works nights and I often accidentally get woke up and then can't go back to sleep. So he said to take tylenol PM when I need to until my next visit and if I'm still having problems he'll prescribe me some ambien. Hopefully I start getting more sleep.

**Original post**

Yesterday I turned 16 weeks pregnant!

I no longer can lay on my stomach at all, I have a hard time picking up my 25 pounder and trips in our vehicle are getting more uncomfortable.

I go to the doctor today at 2.

Other than that, not much else going on around these parts.

YAY to 16 weeks. only 24 more to go...approximately :-)

5 days from now...

5 days from now will be TWO years since I pushed my way through the worst pain I have ever felt in my life and brought forth life to a beautiful little girl. I can't believe that she's about to be two!...AND a big sister 5 months after that. Two years and a big sister. Wow. My sweet baby won't be the baby anymore! It's going to be weird, I'm not gonna lie, but I know it's going to be great!

This little girl holds such a special place in my heart. Because of her, I am a mommy. I couldn't imagine a more fun, laid back, exciting kid to have as a first child. She is amazing! And she's MINE! How does this happen?! I mean, obviously she's been entrusted to me from the great Lord above. How could I be so lucky.

The other day I think I heard her first conversation in her almost two years of life. It went something like this:
I took hubs his dinner out on the deck where he was hanging out with her while she swam. She walked over to his plate and said, "oh, wha's dat?" and he said, "scalloped potatoes" and she said, "wha?" and he said, "potatoes" and she said, "oh wow!". It was so adorable!!! I mean, maybe it wasn't how she meant it to go but that's how it went and it was hilarious. Her first conversation and with her Daddy.

Lately she's been telling everyTHING bye bye when it's time for bed or to go somewhere. The other day I told her we were going to run some errands and she said, "bye bye" and turned off the TV. Adorable little thang she is!

The girl brings much joy to my heart!

Just as much as the day she was born.

skirt #2=EVEN BETTER & dentist adventures

Okay okay, I know I posted lastnight about my first attempt at making a skirt but I couldn't bare how big it was on AK so I made ANOTHER one lastnight :-) This time it only took me close to 2 hours instead of almost 5. I'd have to say that's progress, right?! I am so excited about how it turned out. Take a look for yourself :)



Isn't it wonderful. I am obsessed with making skirts now. Maybe I'll be good enough one day to sell them.

Here is AK sporting her new outfit at the dentist today. She did good while we were up front and she could play with the toys but as soon as we start walking back to start the whole shebang she said, "bye bye" and turned around and tried to walk out. It was pretty funny.





Once back there the dental assistant commented on how cute AK's skirt was so it was fun to tell her that I just made it lastnight. She was like, "you made it!" So then she goes and gets another assistant so she can see it and they ask if I'd make some for them but I'm not quite confident in my ability to take on such a project. Maybe when I take AK back in November I can take the deal. They thought I could make good money selling them in Austin. Who knows.

Apart from skirt adventures lately, she hated the dentist and screamed her head off when she had to put her head in the dentists lap for him to push and pull in her mouth. She was pissed. And then he asked, "do you floss her teeth yet?" UM NO, she's not even two! He only asked because her teeth aren't as spaced as he'd like. But anyways, he thinks I should start introducing her to floss and I think he's nuts. We'll see how that goes.....over time.

That's about all going on right now. I think I might make another one today :-)

I MADE A SKIRT!

So, I woke up with an itch to create something new today. I wasn't sure what I wanted to make but I wanted to use my sewing machine. This usually always turns into quite an event and I spent a lot of back breaking time on my rear. Mostly when I get these urges and think about what I want to make I know exactly how I want to do it and then it never turns out the way I thought it would. It's the most frustrating thing. For one, I don't know my sewing machine all too well and have to call a friend a million times to talk about stitches. Two, I don't sew all that well. Three, I'm just not talented in this area. But still, I insist on creating.

Remember my nursing cover a while back? That was harder than I thought. Recovering my glider rocker for my sister to use was harder than I thought. Heck, recovering it the first time for myself was hard.

Today, I decided that I wanted to make AK a skirt! I thought, "it can't be that hard right??" Well, I'll just say that almost 5 hours later I have a skirt. I cute one too! But not how I expected. LOL. First I had to redo this one piece over and over again because I kept ripping the stitch while I was trying to "bunch" it. THEN when I sewed these two pieces together I did it completely WRONG. Instead of them meeting with a smooth seem on the outside they met with a smooth seem on the INSIDE! So, you can imagine how.....pissed I was. This was after about working on it for 2-3 hours! So, I was about to call it quits until another day and then I thought, "HEY! I can add a ribbon over that "ruffle" and see what that'll do." And tada!!! It made the skirt and I'm glad now that I messed it up.

The skirt is a little big on AK but I think it's adorable! I'll just need to buy a "smaller" shirt...one that helps the look of the skirt...if that makes any sense.

ANYWAYS, without further ado, here it is folks





I'll probably hand wash this bad baby. I'm not sure I trust it in the washing machine. LOL!

Monday

Happy Monday!

I feel so good today that I actually got out of bed before 10:30 AM! My child has completely messed up her schedule lately by sleeping in...sometimes until 11, skipping her nap and staying up late. It's so hard with her daddy being on a night schedule for us to work around it. Sometimes if we stuck by a strict time based schedule, like we've usually done, she would not get to see him and if she did, it'd only be for like 2 hours of the day. So sad! Anyways, yeah, that's why we've been sleeping in so late. Not only did we get out of bed before 10:30, we actually made it out before 10! :-O Go us!

On another note, this weekend I hit the craigslist jackpot for the first time ever! Usually, I'm just seconds too late if I find something that I really want but this time I was aggressive, cleared it all with the hubs within like 5 minutes and went for the take down! Anyways, folks, here you are, my treasure!
I got the WHOLE set of Your Baby Can Read in EXCELLENT condition for $75!!! We've been looking to buy this for AK for a while now but couldn't bare to spend $200 on it. We knew it'd be worth it but couldn't exactly hand over $200 at this time. So you'll understand when I say that this was mega exciting for me. I'm still in shock that we got SUCH a good deal! I really think this will benefit her because she learned most of her ABC's from a First Impressions ABC DVD. She just learns well that way...and with the flashcards and books that go along with the DVD's, I think she'll really learn a ton. I'm so excited to see. YAY for great deals!!!

In baby news, I started to actually feel my uterus yesterday. I know this is weird and all but it started actually causing me great discomfort this weekend and sometimes it pushes out really hard. I don't know if the baby is making this happen or things are just growing and changing and causing pain. I don't remember all these weird things with AK. I guess because I'd never been pregnant before. But with this kid it feels like everything is so different and bigger and more uncomfortable. I think once the uterus finally grows beyond this stage I'll feel better. Maybe. Hopefully.

Again, happy Monday!

15 weeks!

I'm 15 weeks! YAY! For some reason this feels like such a milestone to me and I have no idea why. I'm so much closer to being halfway done. Yippee!

It's crazy how much this baby has grown in such a short amount of time. Here it was at 4 weeks.
Teeny tiny. And now it's about the size of an apple. Wow. So cool.

Well, that's really all I have to say this week. Sorry, I'm no fun today.

so far today we've...

^^^rolled around on the floor laughing^^^


^^^played soccer in the house^^^


^^^made a tent over the bed^^^


^^^danced to music^^^


^^^fed the dog through his crate^^^


^^^tasted it and didn't like it^^^

I LOOOOOVE playing with my girl. She's so much fun and tiring ;-).

And now she's napping in her tent bed. Ahhhh, to be a kid again!

14 weeks

Today marks 14 weeks of growth for our little baby and I'm officially in my second trimester. YAY!!! The little munchkin can make faces and possibly even suck it's thumb. How cute!

I'm finally becoming comfortable with being pregnant. Well, let me rephrase that, I'm finally becoming part of this pregnancy. Okay, that didn't make any sense either. Basically, I can feel things, I hurt a lot and I'm sure I've been feeling the baby kick every now and then. Especially when I have a tad too much sugar in my system. Like say Big Red and chocolate donuts...um yeah. I try really hard to watch my sugar intake and I usually do good but sometimes a necessary trip to the gas station around 11 o'clock is never a good thing.

When I bend over too far I'm uncomfortable in my lower abdomen, when I sit for too long I start to hurt terribly, my back hurts a lot and I can feel it sometimes when I lay on my stomach. Not all the time, just yet, but half of the time. It's likely that I won't be laying like that much longer because it doesn't feel so good anymore. And about my back, I guess that's bound to happen carrying around a 2 year old.

So, those are the examples of what I mean by I'm becoming more a part of it all :). Not that I wasn't before, I just didn't feel so much like it.

I'm not NOT showing yet but I'm not what I was before. I'm way more bloated which has me looking like I'm 6 months pregnant at times and other times I'm just poochy. Lol. I'm okay with that. I'm waiting until I'm undeniably pregnant...then I won't feel so gross.

Well, that's about all I have for you all today.

remembering these days

This post is going to be mainly for myself so I can remember the days of my toddler. You can feel free to skip this part and go straight for the pics if you'd like but you might miss out on some funny things ;-).

Anna-Kate, you are momma's joy. Every morning is met with great expectation of your little voice. It's my que that you are ready to welcome the day. I get excited when I'm coming in your room to get you up because I know you're going to be the happiest little thang. You always do something funny or make a funny noise. Lately, as I sit on the floor beside your bed you sit and throw everything from your bed to me. First your "uh-vee", then your bear, next comes the monkey and finally your catepillar. On a nutty morning you even toss your pillow over. Then you jump off the side into my arms and I change a much filled diaper. From there I proceed to the kitchen where I wait for you to meet me at your highchair. You almost always come lugging down the hallway with your lovey, blanket (if you used it the night before), your bear and monkey all in your little arms. We set the bear and monkey on the chair beside you and you always insist to have your lovey in the highchair with you. You are always careful to put it up behind your head if you think it'll get dirty. That's my girl :-). Our mornings are usually lowkey. We just hang out, chat with Grandma on skype or watch a video. We venture out of the house usually around 10 or 11 if we're going to go anywhere. It's been so hot lately that momma's found it difficult to want to do anything at all. You're satisfied to play in your swimming pool when the sun hits the back of the house and we all find laughs and fun in that because you're so darn cute. Most days we totally have fun together and enjoy eachother's company :-).

Your new things as of late are:
Pointing your finger at mommy (or whomever) and saying "no!" with your sweet voice which most always merits a pop on the leg but you can't help but do it still. Hopefully soon you'll stop soon :-).
You love to point to body parts proclaiming what they are.
You enjoy floating on your back in the pool or tub.
You like "typing" on the computer.
You totally love flipping off of things whether it be your bed, the recliner or the arm of the couch. And yes, I said the arm of the couch. You're nuts.
You love to run free in the grocery store and sometimes I allow you to do it because you get rid of so much energy that way.
You say "tane dew" following most everything. It's the cutest thing.
You like to say, "two two" when "counting" something. When I say, "one, two" you follow with "thee".
You enjoy looking out the window and saying "deeeeer" when you think you see a deer...and most times your right!
You like looking up to the sky at birds and planes.
You like when mommy and daddy say very dramatically while making the appropriate face, "HAPPPPPPPPY, SAAAADDD"! You crack up laughing. And then when we ask for your happy face you give us this hilarious cheesy smile. You stick your bottom teeth in front of your top ones for some reason when you're forcing a smile. It's weird, but cute.
You get so excited when it's time to wake up Daddy. A couple of times throughout the morning you usually stand at our bedroom door and knock saying, "Dadddda! Pease? Dadda!" It's so sweet and sometimes I want to let you in so bad because you want to see your Daddy but he has to have his rest too.

That's all I can really think of for now but I'm pretty sure you do a ton of other adorable things! I love you soooo much and I've enjoyed watching you grow these (almost) two years. You are my angel.


^^^the forced happy face^^^


^^^checking out the "deeer"^^^

somewhat wordless wednesday

What do you get when you give a 23 month old control over the water hose?



An innocent look?


Check!



An evil laugh?


Check!



A soaking wet momma?


CHECK!

((Please excuse the fact that I've entered the weight gain stage and the not quite prego looking one...mainly in my face though! UGH! Whatever, enjoy me at my worst :)))

((OH, and also excuse my pajama pants....I just wanted to....spread the love....I guess.))

little floater

As I've mentioned before, our 23 month old thoroughly enjoys being in the water. We've wondered for a while if we should put her in some swimming classes because she doesn't hesitate one bit to jump into a body of water when she sees one. It's crazy I tell you!

Well the other day while Daddy was outside watching her "swim" in her pool while I hid inside from the heat he taught her how to float on her back. He called me outside to check out her new skill and I was so shocked that such a little person would even be interested in such an activity. He said she was trying to do it on her own at first so he just taught her how and she wouldn't stop after that. She was so very proud of herself, as were we! We got it on video of course and then I took quite a few pics of the wonderful event :-). Excuse the fact that she doesn't have ANY clothes on. I blurred out what was necessary.













Isn't she so scrumptious! I might be biased....but it's okay....all mother's are :-)!

13 weeks

This week I feel like this comparison misrepresents the size of my child...not that I know anything about it but last week it was a nice plump lime and this week it's a measly little shrimp? I'm sure it's probably closer to this size realistically than the lime but whatever.

I'm feeling pretty good. Of course, still tired, but it doesn't help that I can hardly get one full nights sleep in a week. Something is always waking me up. Either AK fell off the bed, hubby is just coming home from work or I have to potty. I know these are the days of "preparation" but I still have like 6 months do not get any sleep. So why start now! I did actually get a full nights sleep Friday night and AK even felt gracious enough to stay in bed until 10 AM! It was amazing! I thought for sure I wouldn't need a nap on Saturday but I did :-). I just can't get enough sleep.

I haven't had any inklings about whether this baby is a boy or a girl until recently. For some reason, in thoughts and conversation, it comes out as a she. I could be wrong and I've been hesitant to even think about it because I don't "want to have a preference" and I don't, but it would definitely be easier on the financial side to have another girl. But if it's a boy, that's okay too. Honestly, I was at Chick-fil-A the other day with AK and there were ALLL boys there and I thought to myself, "oh my, could I handle a boy?!" They were SO LOUD and rambunctious and not careful about my tiny tot being there. I guess if I am having a boy I'd be sure to teach them playground etiquette. And I surely wouldn't leave them to bombard a very small playground with absolutely no supervision other than what can be seen from the table.

ANYWAYS, I think we've officially agreed on a boy name AND a girl name. Which is huge. I won't say anything yet, JUST IN CASE, but again, it's definitely a big deal that we've agreed on something :-) Praise Jesus.

Well, that's all the updating I have for you today on "fig".

OH! oh! I thought of something else. I DO NOT remember having cravings with AK like I'm having with this kid. With AK it was one thing that was inconvenient and mostly everything else we had in the house. Noooo, this baby wants restaurant mexican food, chinese food (which I HATE), queso and chips and this mornings craving-Bush's mashed potatos! AHHHH! My hubby has been fairly wonderful with these cravings. Last week or so he took me 30 minutes away to the only Taco Bueno around and tonight we're going to this Chinese restaurant to get some sesame seed chicken and fried rice! YUM! My MIL says that my preference for dinner tonight will probably change before we even go and I sure hope not because I've been wanting this off and on for a while and I need to have it so it'll go away, right?!

Okay, now, that's all :-).