Days of Our Lives

Kyla Brooke is 4 months old!

2012-01-16T21:38:00.002-06:00

My sweet angel baby,

You are 4 months old! How is it possible that my tiny little baby is already 1/3 of the way to 1 year old?! Our lives truly are a vapor. You are SUCH a joy and daddy and I could just eat you up with a spoon! Here's what you're up to at 4 months old:

-You are wearing size 2 diapers and are wearing some 3 and some 6 month clothing. I have just started putting you in 6 month sleepers because you are getting too long for the 3 month.

-You weigh 13 lbs, 13 oz (60th %) and are 25.5 inches long (82nd %).

-Your hair is still slowly coming in. You have enough for me to put a tiny bow in and have it stay only if you don't move too much! I only did that once, though, because I didn't want the alligator clip to pull any of your hair and hurt you. I think we'll be strictly in headbands for a while longer which is just fine with me.

-You are still VERY smiley and happy almost all of the time. Your favorite thing is attention from us and smile SO big when we talk to you. I find myself often saying things like, "I love that smile but I need you to stop smiling at me and eat!"

-You are constantly trying to put things in your mouth - usually your hands - and have been drooling a lot over the last month. I am wondering when you are going to get your first tooth. Cayden's came in at 5 months so I'm wondering if you will follow after him.

-We moved you into your own bed at night as soon as we got home from traveling at Christmas and you have done pretty well with it.

-You love your room and want to stare up at the painting that daddy and I did for you that hangs above your crib. You also love to look at the vinyl Bible verse that is on the wall above your changing pad. We often see you looking at it intently. You love your bed and all the fabrics and will lay in bed and talk to yourself and grunt while you touch the bumper.

-You take about 4 naps a day and are sleeping about 11 hours a night (8:30 PM-7:30 AM give or take an hour) with 1 dreamfeed around 10:15 PM. You still wake up randomly and usually I have to get up at least once in the night, even if it is just to put your paci back in.

-You are trying desperately to roll from your back to your tummy but haven't mastered it yet.

-Dr. Worsley, your pediatrician, commented on what good head control you have at your 4 month check up. He was also impressed at your eye contact and how you locked eyes with him almost immediately.

-You started having constipation issues right after you turned 3 months. It has broken my heart to see you in pain. I have given you a little bit of organic baby apple juice and that usually helps.

-You are starting to really love Cayden and act so happy when he pays attention to you and loves on you. It warms my heart.

-You love to watch and want to be in the action. You like to watch daddy and Cayden play and will flap your arms and get so excited - it's evident you want to play and it's so sweet.

-Daddy and I are constantly talking about how much we adore you and what a sweet, joyful presence you have brought into our home. We wish we could bottle you up and keep this feeling forever :)

Love you BIG,

Momma

Kyla Brooke is 3 Months Old!

2011-12-16T13:31:00.000-06:00

My sweet angel baby,

You are 3 months old! The fact that you are 1/4 of the way through your first year of life blows me away! I catch myself still using the word newborn but you are not a newborn anymore. You are at SUCH a fun, sweet age and your daddy and I are constantly commenting on how we wish we could just freeze time. Here's what you are up to at 3 months of age:

-You are wearing 3 month size clothes and are still in size 1 diapers. I suspect you will move up a size in diapers over the next month.

-We think you weigh somewhere around 12-12.5 lbs.

-You have recently found your voice and love to "talk". You talk more than your brother did - you're all girl :) Your talking can get really loud and I often have to take you to the other side of the house to keep you from waking Cayden!

-You still love the Avent classic pacifiers and won't keep anything else in your mouth. We tried to give you the MAM brand recently and you hate it. It's the only kind Cayden would even somewhat tolerate but it causes you to gag. You have a very sensitive gag reflux we have discovered.

-You are still sleeping in our room at night but sleep in your crib for naps. You are doing well in your crib and seem to LOVE your room. You stare at everything on the walls and really seem to love your bedding. You're constantly staring at it and wanting to touch it. We plan to move you to your bed at night soon.

-You are very observant even at this age. You look at people trying to get them to make eye contact with you. When they talk to you, you shoot them a sweet smile. You smile with your whole face and your eyes light up - it's so sweet.

-You love it when Cayden talks to you and smiles at you. I hope that you two will grow up to become great friends.

We love you so much, our precious angel baby!

Advent 2011 - Preschool Edition

2011-12-01T10:25:00.000-06:00

It's officially December 1st and we have officially kicked off the Christmas season at the Day household! Technically, Advent started this past Sunday but with two small kiddos at home, we aren't doing Advent in the traditional manner. Our focus is still the same. Focusing on Christ coming to earth as a babe to save us all and preparing our hearts for His glorious return to take us home. But we decided that with an almost 3 year old and an almost 3 month old, this "preschool edition" works better for our family right now. No candles, no fuss - just simple and tangible and something that we think Cayden will grasp. We are starting Advent tonight as a family and I'm really excited about it. Here's what we're planning to do.

We will gather in the living room around our Little People Nativity (which is Cayden's very favorite thing to play with right now and it makes my heart happy!) with only the lights from the Christmas tree on and talk about how Jesus came to earth as a baby to be the light of the world. That before He came, we were separated from God but because Jesus came, we are able to freely come before God and can spend eternity with him in Heaven. We will pray asking God to prepare our hearts for worship. I have typed up a simplified version of the Christmas story (verses from the Bible not a paraphrase) that we will read and use the Little People Nativity to act it out and talk it through with Cayden. We will start off slow and then build on the story each night. We will sing some Christmas songs. And that's it! That's our no fuss no frills Advent plan. I think it will work for us at this point in our lives but like anything, we will evaluate and reassess if it's not working. More than anything, we want Cayden to grasp the essential truths and meaning behind this Season so if it's not working for us, we will adjust!

Another thing I am implementing into our Christmas traditions this year is a countdown to Jesus' Birthday calendar. We don't focus on Santa in our house but we still want our children to experience the awe, wonder, and excitement of the Christmas season. This is just a fun thing to do as a family. I found online (I think it was on confessionsofahomeschooler.com but I'm not exactly sure - I confess, I can be quite the blog stalker!) these "ornaments" that someone had made in photoshop. I printed them on card stock, cut them out, hole punched them, strung them, and Cayden and I hung them on his little Christmas tree in the playroom.

They are numbered 1-24 and each day in December he will pick one off the tree - he will pick one for the corresponding day of the month - and written on the back is something fun that we will do that day. They range from going places, helping mommy bake, or doing a craft. Some days are more complicated than others but I think it's a fun thing that our kids will look forward to each year!

Cayden was excited to pick an ornament off the tree this morning - it's one of the first things he said when he woke up. I have always loved Christmas time but I love it even more now that I have little kiddos. Seeing the excitement and experiencing the joy through their eyes is such a neat gift as a parent!

Christmas Cards

2011-11-29T11:08:00.002-06:00

I had a hard time deciding on a style of cards this year so I ended up ordering 3 different kinds! I love shutterfly and order lots of different things from them throughout the year. If you're still shopping around for Christmas cards, you should check them out! They have tons of cute designs to choose from and great customer service!

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Kyla Brooke is 2 Months Old!

2011-11-16T14:03:00.002-06:00

My sweet Kyla Brooke,

You are 2 months old! Here's what you're up to at this point in your lil' life.

-You are wearing 0-3 month and 3 month size clothes and size 1 diapers. You take after big brother and have a long torso!

-At your 2 month check up today (where you got 5 shots - poor little girl!), you weighed 11.25 lbs and are 23 inches long. You are in the 90th percentile for length! Daddy and I wonder if you will stay tall.

-You smile all the time and we LOVE it! Your very favorite thing is to have people talk to you. You smile really big anytime people give you attention and smile at you. You smile like I did as a baby and it makes my heart happy to see that little trait of mine passed down to you.

-You still like riding in the car, although you are becoming less of a fan of getting in the carseat.

-You slept "through the night" (6.5 hours) for the first time at 7 weeks. You consistently sleep about 5-6 hours at night these days.

-You coo a lot - you love it when we talk to you. One of my very favorite things right now is to have a cooing conversation with you. You make the most animated little faces and expressions - it is adorable!

-Your eyes are still a very pretty blue. My friend Leslie just snapped this picture of you last week at exactly 8 weeks and you can tell how blue your eyes are. I love this picture SO much. It's one of my very favorite pictures ever. I will treasure it always.

-My attempt to get you on a 7-10-1-4 eating schedule worked well. You usually wake from sleeping around that time to let me know it's time to eat! You have dropped the 1 AM feed and the 4 AM feed usually gets pushed back a tad. Next, we''ll be working on dropping the 4 AM feed altogether.

-You have decided that you love the Avent classic pacifiers. You will take other paci's but the Avent ones are the only ones that you seem to keep in your mouth.

-You are starting to pay more attention to Cayden and you like it when he pays attention to you.

-You had your first pedicure experience over the last month. I met up with Aunt Rissa and we got pedicures - you slept through the experience. My heart smiles thinking about the day that we can do that together!

-You have amazing head control and are already sitting up in the Bumbo. You are really strong!

-You are still such a mild mannered, happy baby who doesn't cry much. I am constantly grateful and praising the Lord for blessing me with such a sweet, sweet girl.

You are so deeply loved by daddy, Cayden, and myself. We love and cherish this time in life with you as a sweet baby.

Love,

Momma

Happy Halloween...

2011-10-31T16:46:00.001-05:00

...from Woody and Jesse!

Kyla Brooke is 1 month old!

2011-10-16T14:25:00.001-05:00

Kyla Brooke,

We so greatly anticipated your arrival and the fact that you've already reached the 1 month mark blows your momma's mind! You are THE sweetest little baby and we are so thankful that the Lord blessed our family with you. Here's what you're up to at 1 month old.

-You are wearing newborn size clothes and newborn diapers.

-You are a good eater and have put on weight but you're still a tiny little thing! We think you're somewhere between 8-9 lbs.

-You have started giving us random coo's over the last couple weeks and we love it so much!

-You smile sometimes, and while we know it's not intentional yet, it's so cute!

-Your hair is slowly coming in. It's still hard to tell what color it is but we think it will be dark blonde/light brown - like big brother's.

-You love to ride in the car and sleep really well in your carseat.

-You get hiccups it seems like at least once a day and while they don't seem to bother you, they do keep you (well...you and mommy) up at night.

-I am trying to get you on a 7-10-1-4 eating schedule and you're doing pretty well with it.

-You wake up to eat about every 2.5 to 3 hours and have even given me an occasional 4 hour break between feedings at night. You usually wake up to eat twice in the night. You sleep well the first stretch and the third stretch but the middle of the night stretch you seem to stay awake for quite a while (like a few hours). Mommy is hoping to remedy this VERY soon.

-You have beautiful blue eyes. The doctor said at your 2 week check up (where you weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and were in the 2nd percentile) that your eyes were so blue that he doubted they would turn another color. He said that at Cayden's 2 week check up too and he was right so I'm hoping he's right for you as well.

-You are a very calm tempered patient baby and daddy and I are SO thankful for your sweet disposition. You hardly ever cry - when you wake up at night to eat, you don't even cry - you just grunt at me.

-Speaking of grunting, you are a HUGE grunter! Daddy and I laugh because you're such a cute, dainty little girl and then you let out these giant old man grunts - it seems unnatural coming from you!

-You love pacifiers - you don't seem to have a favorite brand, you will take to just about any of them - but you're having trouble learning to keep them in your mouth.

Everyone is constantly commenting on what a sweet baby you are. I could seriously eat you up with a spoon! I have to pinch myself sometimes to fully believe that I'm not dreaming and you and your brother are mine! God is so good :) You are so, so loved sweet girl. Happy 1 month birthday!

Love,

Mommy

All about our little beauty...

2011-09-29T13:41:00.012-05:00

My friend and talented photographer Leslie took newborn photos of Kyla Brooke when she was 6 days old. I am pretty thrilled with the way they turned out. I am pretty smitten with her as well.

Big brother adores her. I was worried that he might resent her but he is showing no signs of any sort of feelings like that. He is very gentle with her and constantly wants to touch her and look at her. And he always asks to see her feet - so funny! Speaking of her feet, they are HUGE! They are very skinny, like the rest of her, but they are long and remind me of skis - ha! She has long skinny fingers too. Cayden wants to get in her face to look at her and if her eyes are open, he thinks it's hilarious and laughs.

Kyla Brooke is a really good baby. She usually only cries when she needs something. Even at night when she wakes up to eat, she just grunts and groans for several minutes until I get her. When she does cry, it's not a shrill cry like Cayden had. Thank goodness! She's also starting to coo and we love it! It's so cute!

She is a patient little thing and we are all amazed at how alert she is. She seems to be so curious about everything around her. She opens her eyes really wide and looks around at everything.

She has taken to a pacifier and it's been great. Cayden would never take one. He just got frustrated that nothing was coming out and would start screaming! She really seems to have the need to suck on something and does well with the paci. She is still having some trouble keeping it in her mouth on her own but she'll get it.

She is so strong! She has been lifting her head since she was 2 days old. While we were still in the hospital, she was trying to roll over. She constantly kicks her little legs and is moving her arms. Even the nurses at the hospital were talking about how active she is!

She is a good sleeper. She would prefer sleeping while being held, what baby wouldn't!, but she sleeps pretty good in her cradle and in the swing. She goes anywhere from 2-5 hours (usually 3-4) at night. Since she's a crazy arm mover, we swaddle her up at night and she sleeps good. If we don't swaddle her, she hits herself in the face and wakes herself up.

She's a good eater although she has trouble staying awake so I am working on getting her to eat a full meal instead of just "snacking". We can definitely tell that she is gaining weight though. We are ready for her to get some meat on her bones -- she's so tiny!! My mom and I had to go buy her some more newborn things (which are still big) because we were expecting her to be 8 lbs and didn't have much newborn stuff!

Before she was born, I wondered how it would be possible for me to love someone else the way I love Cayden. I knew that I would somehow but it was still a foreign idea. But now she's here and as a mommy of 2, I can say that I totally do! It's amazing the love that I have for these 2 little people. Life is tiring these days but I feel so so blessed :)

The Birth Story of Kyla Brooke

2011-09-26T13:28:00.000-05:00

"It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:8

I was scheduled to be induced at 5:00 AM on Friday, September 16th (6 days before my due date). Since Cayden was over 8 lbs & caused me complications during my first delivery, my doctor and I decided the best thing would be to get this baby to come a few days early. Especially since they estimated her to be 6 lbs, 13 oz at my 36 week ultrasound.

I was so nervous and excited on Thursday night that I could hardly sleep. Collin took Tylenol PM to help him sleep and he was out like a light at 8:00. Me, on the other hand, wasn't able to fall asleep until around 10:30 or 11:00. I woke up at 2:00 AM and couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up and took a shower. I got a phone call at 3:00 saying that I had been bumped and not to show up until 7:30. I went back to bed and got a little more sleep before it was time to get ready and head to the hospital.

My last belly shot at 39 weeks, 1 day

We arrived at the hospital right at 7:30 and got put in a room right away. I was already having contractions 2-3 minutes apart and "Nurse Betty" told me that she didn't think I would need much Pitocin, After I signed my life away, she checked me with her giant gorilla hands (seriously, she was awful!!), got the IV in place, and then got the Pitocin started at exactly 8:34 AM. She came in shortly after that and explained that she was going to have to leave and that Danita would be my nurse. I was OVERJOYED! Not that Betty was bad, but Danita had been my nurse for the first part of my labor with Cayden (I was in labor for 18 hours with him so I had 2 nurses) and she was wonderful. Collin and I had been praying about who my nurse would be and I was very hopeful that it would be Danita but knew the chances of that were very slim. Since I was very nervous going into this labor with all of the complications that I had with Cayden, it was a neat reminder that God had gone before me and was there with me. That I had nothing to fear. It brought me such peace. Collin kept commenting on how relaxed I was. God is good.

Danita agreed with my doctor that since this was my second baby, I probably should get the epidural before the doctor came in to break my water. She checked me around 11:00 AM and I was dilated to a 3 and in active labor. I was definitely feeling the contractions but they weren't what I would consider really painful. NOTHING compared to what I felt like with Cayden before I got the epidural. I didn't necessarily want to get the epidural that early but we thought that my doc would be coming by around lunchtime so we decided that I should go ahead and get it. The anesthesiologist came by and did his thing and shortly after my legs started going numb. It was weird to get the epidural without being in tons of pain. I was actually a little more nervous about it this time than I was my first. It took the doc 2 tries to get in between my spine but he finally did and it was over quick - praise Jesus.

Danita waited about 10-15 minutes before she put in the foley catheter. I kept telling her that I could still feel everything around that portion of my body and she assured me it would be fine. Well, I had total feeling "down there" when she put it in. I wanted to cry - catheters are not fun.

Dr. Pritchett came by around lunchtime and broke my water. She had a hard time breaking it. Apparently I had a very thick, healthy water bag. I'm sure you wanted to know that but this is more for me for posterity's sake so sorry if its TMI. She said I was dilated to a 5 and I was thrilled that things were progressing rather quickly. I still had some feeling so I mentioned it to Danita who said we would call back the anesthesiologist if it was still there in a little bit. At 2:00 PM, Danita checked me and said I was dilated to a 7, 90% effaced, and at 0 station. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me a little more numbing juice and I tried to relax before things really started to happen. We were hopeful that the baby would come before dinner time and were excited that it looked like it would happen. We really didn't want another middle of the night baby!

Family brought Cayden in to see me and at first he didn't know what to think about mommy in a hospital bed. The first thing he did was look at my iv and say, "Mommy got a booboo?" We assured him that I was fine and after that, he did great.

My throat was getting pretty sore so I mentioned it to Danita and she said to stop eating ice at 2:30 and she would come in at 3:00 and take my temperature. While she was gone, I started feeling the urge to push. I thought I was progressing more but had no idea how much... At 3:15 Danita hadn't come in yet and I was sure it was almost that time. I had Collin go get her and sure enough, I was dilated 10 centimeters, 100% effaced, and at +2 station. She had me do 1 practice push to see how fast the baby would come and almost as quickly as she told me to push she told me to stop. It was clear this baby was ready and coming fast. She left in a hurry to call my doctor. Not 5 minutes later, Dr. Pritchett walks in followed by the baby catcher (that's what they call her!) and some other hospital staff. I pushed a grand total of 4 times, the heavens opened, the angels sang, and Kyla Brooke Day entered the world.

She came out screaming and we were all laughing at what a good set of lungs she has! She had just a little peach fuzz - so typical...my son came out needing a haircut but my daughter doesn't have much hair - ha! It's hard to tell what color her hair is since there's not much of it. We think either dark blonde or light brown. She has gray blue eyes and the cutest little face. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 10 oz and we were shocked at what a small baby she is since they estimated her to be 8+ lbs at delivery.

She got a 9.9 on the apgar (just like her big bro) and seemed to be doing really well. She took to nursing right away (such a blessing because her brother had issues) and did great. Her daddy and I were instantly in love. After a little time went by, family came in and we got to introduce Cayden to his baby sister. As soon as he saw her he said, "I want to hold and love that baby!" He is such a sweet boy and is a very gentle, loving big brother.

He was wearing a cute big brother shirt - I wish we had a better picture of him from that day in this shirt.

Here's Kyla Brooke with my amazing OB - Dr. Pritchett. While I did have to have a 3rd degree episiotomy, this delivery was light years better than my first and Dr. Pritchett released me to go home on Saturday night. Kyla Brooke's pediatrician's office wanted her to stay until Sunday because her blood sugar levels were low after birth. They want it to be above 50 and hers were 47 & 48. They had to supplement her with formula to get her glucose levels up but once she had some formula in her, the levels shot up to 81 and stayed elevated. Praise the Lord! I was sad they had to give her formula but it didn't seem to phase her at all and she continued nursing like a champ.

Cayden was excited to come up and see baby sister on Saturday and got to hold her for the first time. I will treasure this picture and the precious look on his face forever. He was so proud.

Here we are with the wonderful Danita. She was precious and helped to make this special day for our family even better.

We got the ok to be released from her pediatricians office on Sunday morning and by lunchtime, we were headed home. This picture of her in her carseat cracks me up because her headband looks so big. In reality, it's not that big. The flower is only 3 inches in diameter but her head is so small that it looks huge!

Our first photo as a family of 4!

Headed home!

When I think about Kyla Brooke's birth day the theme that keeps coming to mind is the mercy of God. He blessed me with an easy delivery and a healthy baby and we are so thankful! God was just as good back in January of 2009 when we had such a crazy week with the birth of Cayden and we know that He allowed everything that we went through for His good and ultimately our own. And He helped us get through it. We also know that He blessed us with an easy delivery this time and we are praising Him for that! He is good all the time.

I still find it hard to believe that I have a daughter. I am dressing her in rufflebutt pants and bows and just having fun! She's like my own little doll. I get giddy about dressing her everyday - isn't that silly?! She is so precious and I feel like I walk around all the time with the soundtrack "Isn't she lovely?" playing on repeat in my head.

I will update as soon as I can on life at home with 2. I am tired but SO SO blessed!

Announcing...

2011-09-21T21:59:00.003-05:00

Kyla Brooke Day

Born September 16, 2011 at 3:34 PM

Weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz and 20.5 inches

She is little bitty and perfect and has stolen our hearts. God has blessed us immensely and we are overflowing with thankfulness at all He has done. I will post her birth story soon.

School Days

2011-09-13T08:47:00.002-05:00

I still have a hard time believing that my first baby is in preschool! We went to Meet the Teacher a couple weeks ago and he did super. He has a couple of great teachers and I know he will have a fabulous year! He goes 2 days a week for 5 hours a day and while I miss him when he's gone, I know the social and educational aspects are going to be so good for him.

Excited to go to Meet the Teacher

Playing in the dress up area

His first day was last week and while we had talked it up a bunch and he seemed excited, the morning did NOT go as planned. We had gone to bed early and tried to do everything that you do on the night before the first day of school.

One of our sprinkler pipes burst at 6:45 AM and so we all woke up earlier than planned, including Cayden. Nothing that morning seemed to go right and even though we woke up early, we still ended up running a little behind schedule. Cayden was tired and did not want to cooperate. This is the only picture I got of him before we left the house. It about sums up the morning!

By the time we got to school he had calmed down but still wasn't in the greatest mood.

When we got into school and outside his classroom, one of his teachers was having to peel a screaming classmate off his momma. I tried to distract Cayden but there's no distracting an already nervous toddler from a screaming, kicking child standing three feet away. We went into the classroom, I helped him put his stuff in his cubbie, and hugged him goodbye. I could see how brave he was trying to be in his little face but as soon as I said bye, he started crying. Broke my heart! I quickly walked out and watched him through the little secret window for a minute. After a couple minutes, he was totally fine and playing.

I had these visions of picking him up and him being so happy to see me - we would go get ice cream after school and it would be a sweet memory. That did NOT happen. When it's time to pick the kids up, they're still napping so they let the parents wake them. Cayden is a great nap taker and does not like being woken up (especially since he was SO tired from waking up early and playing hard) and he did not act happy to see me. He fussed and cried all the way to the car and was in a terrible mood all the way home. We did not get ice cream and it made me sad :( Once we got home, he slowly snapped out of it. I had anticipated a very different first day of school and I went to bed feeling sad and defeated that the day had gone so differently than I planned. I'm sure the crazy pregnancy hormones had nothing to do with that :)

Praise the Lord that His mercies are new every morning. Cayden's second day went better. He still woke up early but the morning was much smoother and I actually got the backpack wearing fireplace picture that I wanted on the first day! We sang happily all the way to school and when it came time to go into his classroom, he walked right in and didn't cry when I left! I was so proud!

He was in a bit of a sour mood when I picked him up but it was better than the first day and he snapped out of it in time for us to get ice cream together on the way home. He was excited to put his artwork on the fridge when we got home. It was a much better day! Here's to hoping this week goes even better!

38 Weeks - Aaggghhhh!

2011-09-08T19:19:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 38 Weeks

Size of baby: About 19.75 inches - the size of a watermelon - and weighs around 7 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 29 lbs - I am right on track to hitting my no-more-than-30 lb's-gained-goal

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies (which are gettin' preeeety snug!) & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Her movement has slowed down over the last week. She's running out of room!

Sleep: Not great but I keep reminding myself that it could be worse. Soon, I'll be getting up every little bit with a baby so I'm trying to enjoy all the sleep I can right now!

What I miss: Lots of things about not being pregnant but since I'm in the home stretch, I am trying to enjoy the things that I love about being pregnant. Especially since this may be my last time doing this.

Cravings: Nothing real specific, I'm just hungry! Once I hit 9 months, the hunger finally set in. I am eating lots more these days than I have been this entire pregnancy. I did send Collin to the store for some applesauce that I had to have the other night. And I devoured the entire jar in 2 or 3 sittings.

Symptoms: I think I have almost every symptom out there. My feet are getting ridiculously swollen.

Best Moment this week: Having Cayden (who was in a great mood - a rarity this week!) all to myself this afternoon.

My sweet Cayden is having a rough week. Being the perceptive 2 year old that he is, he's picking up on all the chaos and baby preparations around the house and I know he can tell things are about to happen. He doesn't have a clue how his world is about to be rocked, but he knows something's up. He also started school yesterday for the first time ever. He is going to a great local preschool (I hate using the term "Mother's Day Out" because to me that implies it's like a babysitting service and it's not! They have curriculum and themes and do projects and work on all sorts of things like shapes, colors, letters, they incorporate Spanish, have circle time, etc.). I will try and post details about the first day of school with pictures soon but for the purposes of this quick 38 week update post, let me just say that school - as it is for any child - is going to be an adjustment. On top of that big milestone, Cayden will be joining us in welcoming his baby sister in 8 days! That's right - we are scheduled to be at the hospital for induction on September 16th. For insurance purposes, we are praying that she holds out until then but my doctor (and me!) are trying to avoid some of the issues that I had with Cayden this go around so she wants to induce sooner rather than later. Sooo, we will be meeting this sweet baby in just 8 days (I will be 39 weeks + 1 day). AAGGGHHHH! Suffice it to say, our little man has some major adjustments this month. Extra prayers for him are greatly appreciated. He has been a bit of a handful lately and in these final days of pregnancy, my fuse has been much shorter than normal with him. While I am thrilled about this sweet baby girl and so excited to have her join our family, I am grieving the time that I am losing with just me and Cayden. I have these visions of all these things I want to do with him while it's still just the 2 of us. It seems like nothing I have planned is going the way I envisioned it and it makes me sad - usually because of his attitude lately. I get frustrated. Then I feel bad about it because I know he has so much going on right now and I need to be extra reassuring and loving towards him. It's a weird place to be. Honestly, I could use some prayer too.

As far as baby girl goes, she seems to be doing great. At my 38 week check up today she was measuring 34 weeks but doctor thinks it's just because she's slowly dropping. Last week at 37, she was measuring 35. She's not estimated to be a small baby so I'm not worried about it. Her bedding arrived last week and her room is almost ready. We have to put the vinyl up above her dresser, hang a memo board, and her bow holder, and finish painting the canvas to go above her crib and her room should be done. My dad is coming over tomorrow while Cayden is in school to help me with the first 3 of those things and I'm hoping to get quite a bit done on the canvas over the weekend. I still have some house cleaning to get done, a couple more meals to make and freeze, and Collin needs to pack his bag but other than that - we are ready. I really will post a belly picture soon. We've just been so busy lately we haven't really taken any pics. Shame on us!

Isn't she lovely?

2011-08-26T07:59:00.000-05:00

Here is our baby girl at 36 weeks. She's precious, squishy, and obviously running out of room :)

I love the above picture because it looks like she's flexing her big bicep. Ha! She looks like Cayden to me in this picture. So excited to meet her!

36 Weeks

2011-08-25T13:40:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 36 Weeks

Size of baby: About 18.75 inches - the size of a crenshaw melon - and weighs around 5.75 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 27 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies (which are gettin' preeeety snug!) & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: She moves tons and I love it. I will miss it once I'm not pregnant.

Sleep: Not great but I cannot complain. Just so thankful to be pregnant with this sweet babe. The increased weight gain is putting pressure on my hips and between that and HORRIFIC heartburn and the nonstop trips to the bathroom I am constantly exhausted the next day. Well, that and the whole growing a person thing is pretty tiring too! :)

Cravings: Not too much.

Symptoms: Just about every symptom in the book. My feet are really starting to swell and even my hands and fingers are getting in on the sausage like action.

Best Moment this week: Seeing our sweet little girl on ultrasound this morning at my 36 week check up.

My doc's appointment today went good. Baby girl looks great via ultrasound and I'm so grateful. The tech let me see her in 4D and it was so sweet. She has such a cute little face! I will post a couple pictures later. We also learned that she is head down, which is great. The tech also estimated her at about 6.5 lbs and that freaks me out! That means if I go 40 weeks, she'll most likely weigh about 8.5 lbs - aaghhh! I know in the big scheme of things that's really not that big but Cayden was 8 lbs, 3 oz and without going into detail, I had a RoUgH time. Sooo, my doc is looking at inducing once I hit 39 weeks if she hasn't come yet. We talked about a couple possible dates but it's still too early to talk very specific. She "checked" me and things are starting to progress so we'll see what the next few weeks hold. I was induced with Cayden the day before my due date and really don't want to be induced this time but I also don't want to deal with the issues I had last time so if inducing will help prevent that, I am all for it. Honestly, we're just praying over this all because the only one that knows the future is the good Lord and we're trusting Him to do the best thing for us all. The earliest date we're talking about inducing is 3 weeks from tomorrow so I need to get busy -- I have lots to do over the next 3 weeks!

35 Weeks

2011-08-18T17:23:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 35 Weeks

Size of baby: About 18 inches - the size of a honeydew melon - and weighs around 5.25 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 26 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies (which are gettin' preeeety snug!) & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: She still moves a lot. I'm expecting her movement to slow down soon since she's getting so big but so far she's remained fairly active. She moves most late at night and early in the morning but she definitely makes her presence known throughout the day too. Her movements are so strong that she frequently causes me to jump. We're worried this might be an indication that she's going to be our wild child! :) Cayden likes to put his hand on my tummy but as soon as she moves, he immediately jerks his hand away and acts freaked out. He is in for the shock of his life when she enters our home next month. We keep telling him that she's coming out soon but he's 2 so even though he talks about how she's "coming out", we know he has no clue.

Sleep: Not too good and getting worse. The increased weight gain is putting pressure on my hips and between that and HORRIFIC heartburn and the nonstop trips to the bathroom I am constantly exhausted the next day. Well, that and the whole growing a person thing is pretty tiring too!

Cravings: I have had a thing for lime flavored things lately. And I ate a pepperoni sandwich the other day. Random and seems weird to me but I posted something about it on Facebook and other people don't seem to think it's that weird so maybe it's not? It was just pepperoni and bread and it tasted sooo good. Ha!

Symptoms: Just about every symptom in the book. My feet are really starting to swell and even my hands and fingers are getting in on the sausage like action.

Best Moment this week: Getting lots done on the nursery. It's really coming together and I love the way it's turning out!

I am getting really behind on blogging and skipped posting last week. I had a doctors appointment last Thursday - everything is fine. I had only gained 1 lb since the 2 weeks before and they were impressed with that. I made up for it and gained the allotted 1 lb per week this week. If baby gains 1/2 lb per week at this rate I would like to know where the other half pound is going! I will get a sonogram next week to check baby's position and get a weight estimate. I'm eager to hear her weight and to make sure that she is indeed a girl. I know it's goofy because her 20 week ultrasound photos were very clear that she is indeed a SHE but I would still like that reassurance. Her room has quite a bit of pink and lots of flowers and it makes me just a wee bit nervous! I will post after that appointment, with a belly picture, and will try to update soon on just life in general. Cayden is so fun these days and I really need to be better about writing things he does and says down.

33 Weeks

2011-08-04T15:13:00.004-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 33 Weeks

Size of baby: About 17 inches - the size of a pineapple - and weighs around 4.25 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 25 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies (which are gettin' preeeety snug!) & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Sleep: Not too good and getting worse. The increased weight gain is putting pressure on my hips and between that and the nonstop trips to the bathroom I am constantly exhausted the next day. Well, that and the whole growing a person thing is pretty tiring too!

Cravings: I have had a thing for lime flavored things lately.

Symptoms: Just about every symptom in the book.

Best Moment this week: Being able to mark "Potty train Cayden" off the "Things to do before Baby #2" list.

We still have a long way to go but we know that we won't have to go back to diapers and that is HUGE! I will try to post more about this later because I don't want to forget these "special" memories!

32 Weeks

2011-07-28T15:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry there's no picture - we started potty training today and there's no time for pictures :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 32 Weeks

Size of baby: About 16.7 inches - the size of a large jicama - and weighs around 3.75 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 24 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Tons - I love it! She is very active and getting so strong. She does these huge body rolls and it causes me to jump!

Sleep: Not too good but it could be worse. At least I'm not having insomnia, right?!?

What I miss: Being able to sit down and play with Cayden and easily get up off the floor!

Cravings: Still not too much.

Symptoms: Just about every symptom in the book.

Best Moment this week: Getting some things done on the nursery. Nesting has officially set in and I'm eager to get everything done and ready for d-day! I will post pics of her nursery once it's finished. The bedding won't be in until close to her due date so it wouldn't make much sense to post pics now - it's amazing how much bedding pulls a room together!

As I mentioned earlier, we are in potty training mode around here. So far, it's going as well as can be expected. I am doing my own variation of the 3 day method. We have had several accidents and some successes too, even including a small poopy success! I've encountered some issues but I'm hoping that over the course of the next few days we can get it ironed out and it will all "click" with him. Prayers are appreciated :) I feel like I've taken up residence in his bathroom!

31 Weeks

2011-07-21T14:24:00.002-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 31 Weeks

Size of baby: About 16.25 inches - the size of 4 navel oranges (is it just me or is that a weird thing to compare the size of your baby to?!) - and weighs around 3.3 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 22 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: She is moving a lot and I love it. She has started doing these stretches where her feet are on one side of my body and her hands are on the other and it literally feels like she's trying to push her way out. Ha!

Sleep: Not sleeping great. Especially not the past couple nights. Tuesday night I had Braxton Hicks contractions a lot of the night and didn't get much sleep. Then last night was our first night on our little family of 3 get-a-way and I slept in a bed with Cayden...so yeah...didn't sleep good then either. At least I'm still sleeping better than I will be in a few months!

What I miss: Everything about not being pregnant - except for the baby kicks and how people are nicer to you when you're pregnant. I love the way people smile at you when you're pregnant. Something about Christmas time and pregnant girls just seem to make people happy & I'm soaking up as much of it as I can!

Cravings: Still not too much.

Symptoms: Just about every symptom in the book.

Best Moment this week: We are thoroughly enjoying time away from the everyday life and livin' it up on the Riverwalk in San Antonio right now. Cayden had a blast last night and today and we're looking forward to the next few days as well. It's surreal to me to think that the next time we do a little family get-a-way like this, there will be 4 of us!

30 Weeks

2011-07-14T18:30:00.004-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 30 Weeks

Size of baby: About 15.7 inches - the size of a cabbage - and weighs around 2.75 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 20.5 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for certain jammies & some of Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: She is moving a lot and I love it. She moves most early in the morning, late at night, and shortly after I eat. It's by far the best part of pregnancy and I'll miss it when she decides to grace us with her presence here in the outside world.

Sleep: Ehh....... The lack of breathing when I lay down and the increasing pain on my hips from laying on my sides are quite annoying. Especially when I'm SO TIRED all the time!

What I miss: Not being pregnant. Honestly, I don't know how else to put it. I am hitting that miserable stage. I won't give you the laundry list of why but the 'not being pregnant' pretty much sums it up.

Cravings: I am still not craving much although tonight I decided that I NEEDED some fresh pineapple so the boys are out getting it for me right now. Love those boys.

Symptoms: To be blunt about it, 3rd trimester = MISERABLE. I'm trying to enjoy being pregnant, especially since this may be my last time to experience this miracle. Between the aches & pains, horrific heartburn, Braxton Hicks, constant need to pee, inability to breathe through my nose and the shortness of breath, headaches, and being hot all the time - I am pretty much over it.

Best Moment this week: Hearing her heartbeat today and knowing that she'll be here in 70 days or less!

We are going on a little trip soon just the 3 of us and I'm really looking forward to it. Collin has had so much going on at work recently - I'm excited to get away for a bit and spend some time with my boys! Well, my pineapple has arrived so I'm going to go devour it! Hope you are having a great week!

Stating the obvious

2011-07-13T09:09:00.005-05:00

It's hot. If you live in Texas, you know this. It's hot every summer but somehow this year, it's hotter than usual. And I'm not even talking about the fact that I'm 7 months pregnant so I have this built in furnace that I carry around with me everywhere I go. It's literally hotter outside this year. I keep hearing about how this is record breaking heat for our area. Add the furnace thing on top of it and the fact that I have to shave my legs with my big belly and our small excuse for a stand up shower and I tell you what...I'm about over being in the 3rd trimester in the summertime. I have told Collin that IF (the jury is out on this and probably will be for quite a while) we ever have another baby, I do NOT want a late summer/early fall baby ever again. I am over the moon excited about our daughter, and while I want her to stay cooking for another couple months, we are thrilled to meet her come September 16th ish. BUT, I am miserable. Just thought I'd get that out there. Rant over. I will post my 30 week update tomorrow.

28 Weeks

2011-06-30T14:47:00.002-05:00

Sorry no pic this week - just imagine me a tiny bit bigger than last week! And a tiny bit tanner, too :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Size of baby: About 14.8 inches - the size of a chinese cabbage (what is that?!) - and weighs around 2.3 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 18 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving quite a bit. Somedays she's super active and some days she is very chill and I won't feel her as much. Lately she's been really active early in the morning. Hope that doesn't mean she'll be an early riser! If so, she'll be the only one in this family!

Sleep: Ehh, sleeping ok. The lack of breathing when I lay down and the increasing pain on my hips from laying on my sides are quite annoying. Especially when I'm SO TIRED!

What I miss: Not having a huge belly. I am thankful for my pregnant belly and all, don't get me wrong, but it's getting increasingly more difficult to keep up with Cayden and it's only getting harder the bigger I get. I feel confident that Cayden misses my flatter stomach as well.

Cravings: Not a lot. I'm hungry but nothing sounds good.

Symptoms: Same old same old. All the same symptoms are still here with the addition of my acid reflux acting up. It hit me in the night last night and I was miserable until my aciphex kicked in. So thankful that is category B and I can take it while pregnant. Hoping that was a random fluke and not a new normal for me.

Best Moment this week: Collin took vacation on Monday and we spent the day with our best friends at NRH2O. I hadn't been in FOREVER and it was so much fun! I wish Collin could take every Monday off -- it was a fabulous way to start the week. As miserable as I'm starting to feel some days, I'm really trying to enjoy this time while it's still just the 3 of us. I'm so excited for this baby to be here but I also cherish this time right now.

I have a pregnancy app on my phone and it greeted me this morning by telling me that I am officially in my 3rd trimester and that we have 84 days left until our due date. That 84 days freaked me out a little! We have so much to do. The craft bug bit me yesterday & Cayden and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to get a few supplies. I made door hangers for both the kids rooms (weird to say "kids"!) and painted a little something for sisters room. I have got to get busy on decorating her room over the next couple months. She will be here in 84 days or less! Wow.

Murder at the Juice Joint

2011-06-28T13:23:00.002-05:00

We recently went to a murder mystery party to celebrate a friends birthday. It was set in Chicago during the 20's and we had a fun time getting into character. Collin was "Southside Sal", a mob boss and I was "Natalie Nemetz", Soutside Sal's secret love and the little sister of "Notorious Nick", a rival mob boss.

Here we are getting ready to leave the house. Cayden did not know what to think about all my makeup. He kept looking at my red lips and saying, "Mommy mouth is red". Ha! After the party was over, it took me about 2 days to get my lips back to normal color!

When everyone arrived, they got their mug shot taken. Mine cracks us up - I look so hard core!

It was a really fun night of getting dressed up and playing a character. There was a "murder" that happened that evening and we had to piece the clues together and try to figure out who the killer was. I had never done one of these but always wanted to. It was a very creative birthday party!

27 Weeks

2011-06-23T22:27:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Size of baby: About 14.5 inches - the length of cauliflower - and weighs around 2 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 16 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving tons - I love it! It's by far my favorite thing about pregnancy.

Sleep: Ehh, sleeping ok. Definitely getting more tired than I have been over the past couple months. I can tell I will be in the 3rd trimester in just a week!

What I miss: Corn dogs

Cravings: Not too much. Ate some queso last night that tasted sooo good to me. I could eat quite a bit more of that!

Symptoms: Heartburn, of course, and this rhinitis of pregnancy is about to do me in! I cannot breathe through my right nostril at any point during the day and they both close up tight during the night. I feel like I have had a cold for a month now. I don't remember it being this bad with Cayd. I was telling Collin at dinner tonight that I have to chew my food with my mouth open because I cannot breathe through my nose at all. We were joking about how we cannot go out to eat anywhere refined because I am chewing like a cow these days - ha! My hips have decided to get in on the pregnancy action lately and have started aching when I lay on my sides at night. And, since this symptom amuses my husband and I don't want to forget it, let me add that my gag reflex is so much stronger with this pregnancy. I cannot hold anything in my mouth, like in between my teeth, for more than about 2 seconds before I start gagging.

Best Moment this week: Cayden and I ran to Babies R Us Tuesday morning since we were in the area and registered for a few things for baby girl. That was fun! Also, totally off baby topic but we had a friend from college come stay with us on Monday night and we got to meet his wife. God has done some awesome things in his life and heart over the time that we have known him and it was so great to see him and meet his sweetie!

Our friends Stephanie and Brandon welcomed their precious second daughter into the world today. And by "Stephanie and Brandon", I mean "Stephanie". The girl had it tough and was such a trooper and praise God, Audrey "Reese" Poor is here and healthy. We went up and saw them briefly tonight and I got my baby fix in! It was a little surreal being at the hospital where we will deliver, knowing that we will be there welcoming our sweet girl into the world in LESS THAN 3 MONTHS! Cayden was not a huge fan of his momma spending time with another baby. He seemed to like Reese though and kept talking about how "pretty and sweet" she was after we left. This is going to be a big adjustment for our little man but I am confident that he will be a gentle and loving big brother when the time comes.

26 Weeks

2011-06-16T07:49:00.009-05:00

I don't even want to say what it looks like Cayden is thinking in this picture - ha! :)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 26 Weeks

Size of baby: About 14 inches - the length of a hothouse cucumber - and weighs around 1.75 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 15 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving lots - I love it!

Sleep: Ehh, sleeping ok.

What I miss: I have been missing my non-maternity wardrobe this week. We are getting ready to go to a murder mystery dinner tomorrow night that is set in the 20's and it's been really hard trying to find something to wear!

Cravings: Still sweet things. I made a peach cobbler last weekend and am embarrassed to say how much of it I ate!

Symptoms: Heartburn is continually getting worse. I actually had the whole vomit-come-up-in-my-mouth yesterday. It seems a little early for that to me but I am close to my 3rd trimester so maybe not. I ate a couple hershey kisses and I think the straight chocolate did it to me. Ick! Definitely at that point where I have to be careful what I eat. At dinner last night, Collin ordered a strawberry lemonade and I sadly had to decline.

Best Moment this week: Starting to work on her room has been really fun! I went to a surprise shower for a friend who's about to have a baby in early July on Monday night and had some friends help me decide on fabric for her bedding. I got that ordered today and am super excited about it! The only stinky thing about it is that it won't be here until just before her due date.

I thought I'd share some pictures of a few of the things we’ve been up to so far this summer.

Took a train ride...

Went to the zoo with friends...

Done some swimming...

Played some rock band...

A little more swimming...

Being sweet with friends...

And just some good ol' fashion havin' fun in the summertime! Hope your summer's off to a super start!

Coolest. Dad. Ever.

2011-06-13T11:00:00.003-05:00

Collin built Cayden a fort out of the baby's furniture boxes.

He loves it.

And I love this little face.

My kids are so blessed to have such a fun daddy. I think I'm pretty blessed too!

25 Weeks

2011-06-09T12:15:00.000-05:00

Finally a picture! I told you I am getting nice and fat :) One of these days I'll start getting Collin to take the picture of me so my face is in it! And again, excuse the jammies and the deodorant on my shirt. What can I say? I live in the real world.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 25 Weeks

Size of baby: About 13.6 inches - the size of a rutabaga - and weighs around 1.5 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 14 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving tons! We feel like she moves more than her brother did at this phase. I'm wondering if that means she'll be more of a mover and a shaker than her laid back big bro!

Sleep: I'm sleeping ok. Not great but it could be a lot worse. I'm sure it will be before too long - ha!

What I miss: Back & tummy sleeping. Being able to breathe through my nose. Not needing to eat Tums constantly. Being able to walk around my house without being out of breath. Not peeing my pants every time I sneeze.

Cravings: Sweets. I made a cheesecake Tuesday night and I have eaten half of it!

Symptoms: The most annoying symptoms right now are heartburn, rhinitis of pregnancy, and lots of pressure the way baby girl is laying. I never felt pressure like this with Cayden. I don't know if it's because this is my second pregnancy or because she's not breech like Cayden was at this point but it feels very different.

Best Moment this week: We have painted her room and set up her furniture this week!

We ended up painting her room a color that I never thought I would paint my daughters room but I think it's going to turn out cute. What I'm envisioning is sweet and feminine and fun - hopefully that's how it will turn out. Ha! My dad went with me in his truck to pick up her furniture on Tuesday and we set it up last night after the paint was dry. I have ordered more fabric and am waiting for that to come in and then I will make the final fabric choices and order the bedding since that takes 10-12 weeks to get. Stay tuned for a room update soon! Since her dresser's set up, I guess I need to get going on filling it up, huh?! Shopping for girls is so much fun!!

24 weeks (several days late!)

2011-06-06T09:49:00.002-05:00

*Again, sorry for the lack of picture. I WILL post one later this week!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 24 Weeks

Size of baby: About 12.5 inches - the length of an ear of corn - and weighs around 1.25 lbs

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 12.5 lbs when they weighed me at the doc last Thursday at exactly 24 weeks. She said that I am on the lower end of the weight gain (she said on average most people at 24 weeks have gained between 14-19 lbs) but that baby is measuring fine so she's not worried about it.

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts I am all maternity these days.

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving a lot! I can really feel her movements getting stronger. I am starting to see my tummy jump when she kicks. Collin was able to feel her for the first time this weekend. Her movements have been strong enough for him to feel her for a while now but every time he has put his hand on my tummy she would stop moving!

Sleep: I'm sleeping fairly well. My biggest issue lately is fighting the urge to sleep flat on my back.

What I miss: Not to sound redundant but back sleeping. Other than that, not too much.

Cravings: I am still not craving too much. Lately I have wanted more sweet things.

Symptoms: Heartburn is in full swing. I don't go anywhere without my Tums. My nose has gotten really stuffy over the last week and is causing me some issues. I am also starting to get more tired.

Best Moment this week: Getting to hear her heartbeat via doppler! It's so cool when the baby gets bigger because there's no searching for the heartbeat when the doc puts the device on your belly. She's big enough now that the heartbeat comes up immediately - I love that! Her heartbeat was in the upper 140's.

The last week has been a whirlwind and the reason that this post is 4 days late. Last week we spent cleaning out baby girls closet and getting ready for a garage sale. My parents neighborhood held a community wide garage sale and they were gracious enough to participate and let us and a couple other families participate in the sale. The timing was perfect for us because we found lots of things we didn't want anymore as we were cleaning out. The garage sale was a huge success and now this week we are going to be figuring out what to do with everything that didn't sell, painting sisters room, and then going to pick up her furniture and putting that together. I got the call Friday that her furniture is in. Yay! It's hard to believe that we're at this part of the pregnancy and starting to really prepare for her to be here in just 3 months!

My Big 2 Year Old

2011-06-01T14:23:00.004-05:00

My poor firstborn has been a bit neglected on the blog lately so I thought I'd show him a little love and share what he's been up to.

At almost 29 months, he's about 35 inches tall and weighs around 30 pounds. He is wearing mostly 2T clothing and is in size 5 diapers. We plan to potty train at some point in June so stay tuned for that excitement...I am dreading it!

He loves to be outside and is constantly asking to "go down da slide". He has a shirt that says "VIP of the Playground" and it makes me laugh because he acts like it's true. He adores the outdoors. We took him to ride the Forrest Park Mini Train on Memorial Day and while he liked it, he whined as we rode by the playground. I honestly think he would have rather been on the playground. Next time we'll keep our $10 and let him play for free!

Over the last few months, Cayden has discovered how cool his daddy is. He will follow him around like a puppy dog when he gets home from work, just starring at him with this eager anticipation, wondering what he's going to do next. He loves to play outside with daddy and to wrestle around with him on the floor. Collin is SO good with him and it warms my heart to watch my boys together.

He has become quite the little helper around the house. He longs to help us do daily tasks and it makes me so proud to watch him wanting to chip in.

The other night when we were on the way home from dinner, Cayden kept starring at the sun. We explained to him that starring at the sun could hurt his eyes and told him not to stare at it. For the remainder of the trip home, he was doing this:

He was afraid to open his eyes for fear of looking at the sun so he kept them lightly closed all the way home. He was talking and singing with his eyes closed - ha! Sweet boy.

He is content to play by himself for substantial amounts of time and this mommy is so thankful that he can entertain himself. I am hoping this continues when sister makes her appearance in a few months.

He is constantly talking and picking up new phrases. His pronunciation has really improved over the last month. He loves to count to 20 (which he's been doing for a long time now) and to sing his ABC's. He was helping me count coins this afternoon (we are getting ready for a garage sale) and he was making me laugh because he kept calling them "corns".

He has become quite the picky eater and it's often a struggle getting him to eat much that we want him to eat. Last night while Collin was putting him to bed he kept telling Collin that he wanted, "babanas (bananas) and ice cream".

We have had our fair share of disciplinary issues lately - I know it's just part of this age and we're praying our way through it. He's stubborn like his parents and is starting to test the boundaries. We are praying that we do our best possible job as parents to train him up in righteousness and point him constantly to the cross.

He is going through this phase right now where he loves to give kisses. He is constantly wanting to kiss me and it melts my heart. Kisses on the mouth, on the hands, on the shoulders, on the knees...he's such a sweetheart.

I know that he will be a loving, gentle big brother and I'm excited to see his new role in the family unfold over the next year. I love him SO SO much and the playful masculinity that he brings into this house. Cannot imagine my life without him in it. So thankful that the Lord allowed us to be his parents!

23 Weeks

2011-05-26T20:24:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of picture this week, I have had a long day with Cayden (he is normally very mild mannered but was acting his age today and WORE me out!) and am honestly too exhausted to mess with taking one right now but I will try to do it tomorrow :) Just trust me when I say I'm getting good and round in the belly!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 23 Weeks

Size of baby: About 11.5 inches - the size of a large mango - and weighs a little over 1 lb

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 11 - 12 lbs ish (My weight is fluctuating so much these days. I weighed myself yesterday and it said I had gained 9 lbs and then today it said 12!)

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies & Collin's t-shirts, I am all maternity these days

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: Moving a lot and she is LOW! I know it's just a second baby thing but man...I feel her very low.

Sleep: I'm still sleeping pretty good. My biggest issue lately is fighting the urge to sleep flat on my back.

What I miss: Not to sound redundant but back sleeping. Other than that, not too much.

Cravings: I am still not craving too much and haven't hit the starving all the time stage. I did get some corn on the cob yesterday and had one randomly in the middle of the afternoon. Tasted SO good!

Symptoms: Heartburn is continuing to get worse but the feet swelling is much better than it was when we first got back from Hawaii.

Best Moment this week: Buying furniture for our little girl!

It really hit me that we are having a baby when we ordered her furniture on Monday night. We went out to eat afterwards and we were sitting at the table and I kept telling Collin, "We are really going to have a newborn in our house in 4 months or less!" For some reason, ordering the furniture made it all that more real for me and I got really excited about decorating her nursery. Then the next day Collin's car needed some brake work - ugh! - and I snapped out of baby mode and back to reality!

We are planning on moving the guest bedroom furniture out of sister's room this weekend to make room for her furniture which will be here soon. Collin really wanted to paint this weekend too but I'm having a hard time deciding on what color to paint. I couldn't find any baby bedding that I loved so I am having it made. I am waiting on fabric swatches in the mail and then that will help me decide on color for the walls. I don't think they will be here until next week so we're assuming that we'll be painting next week sometime. She will most likely be in our room for the first 6-8 weeks of her life but I am eager to put a girlie room together :) Still feels surreal to be planning for a daughter. God has blessed us so greatly with two babies and we are so grateful!

22 Weeks

2011-05-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: About 11 inches - the size of a spaghetti squash - and weighs around 1 lb

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 10 lbs (Yikes! I knew a big weight gain week was coming and over the last 2 weeks I've gained 4 lbs. Whoa! I can tell my tummy is really growing right now and I'm sure the endless eating we did in Hawaii didn't help!)

Maternity Clothes: Except for jammies, I am all maternity these days

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: She is a mover for sure - she moves all throughout the day. I feel like she moves more than Cayden did at this stage. She moves especially if it's meal time and I haven't eaten yet. And I usually feel her quite a bit in the evenings when I lay down.

Sleep: I'm sleeping ok these days minus the multiple overnight potty trips

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach and flat on my back

Cravings: I am still not craving too much and haven't hit the starving all the time stage. Nausea still gets me with this pregnancy so I have to maintain the right balance of food on my stomach pretty much all the time.

Symptoms: Heartburn is continuing to get worse and the feet swelling started last week on the long plane ride from Hawaii to Colorado.

Best Moment this week: Getting to see Cayden after being in Kaua'i for a week. We missed him SO bad!!!

Baby sister can now hear noises outside the womb. It makes me wonder what she's thinking when her brother is throwing a fit - ha! I haven't put headphones on my tummy yet but I will soon. Cayden used to move like crazy when I did that with him! This is the fun stage of pregnancy for sure :)

Reunited and it feels so good!

2011-05-18T11:14:00.002-05:00

Collin and I just returned home on Sunday afternoon from spending 7 nights in the beautiful island of Kaua'i. It was great to get away but we missed our little boy SO MUCH. This week has been spent loving on Cayden and making up for lost time. I am starting to tackle the mountains of laundry and getting my house back in order but it sure is good to be back at home with my favorite little man. Again, I missed last weeks pregnancy update (I wasn't motivated to update from Hawaii - sorry!) but one is coming tomorrow and then I plan to post soon all about vacay. Sooo, stay tuned!

20 Weeks - Special Gender Edition

2011-05-05T13:01:00.007-05:00

(Ignore the jammies - it's been a loooong day!)

We are half way there!!!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Size of baby: About 6.5 inches - the size of a small cantaloupe - and weighs around 10.6 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5-6 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing mostly all maternity at this point. My tummy has really grown just over the last few days it seems!

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Movement: I am feeling her move everyday and I LOVE it! The movements are still faint but have become stronger than flutters. Collin hasn't been able to feel her move yet but I am sure it's coming soon. The other night, I was laying in bed watching my refusing-to-go-to-sleep toddler on the monitor and feeling baby girl kick around in my stomach and I started thinking, "I would love to go to sleep but BOTH my babies are keeping me up!" I am sure there will be lots of that in my not-so-distant future.

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. The raised leg move that I had been doing to continue tummy sleeping is no longer working sadly and I'm struggling with wanting to sleep on my back.

What I miss: Other than the aforementioned sleeping situation, I don't miss too much right now.

Symptoms: The same they have been. Heartburn is slowly getting worse and my back is slowly becoming more achey.

Best Moment this week: Learning that we will be welcoming a sweet baby girl into our family in 20 weeks or less and getting to see her via ultrasound!

I didn't do a post at 19 weeks. I meant to but we were SO busy that I didn't have time. I feel like there is a huge difference between the 18 week pic and the 20 week! She has really grown over the last few days. Collin even came home from work yesterday and said, "Man, you really look pregnant!"

I wanted to document a couple things that I left out of the "We're Thinking Pink!" post below because I don't want to forget them. When we went to have the ultrasound done, I was sure that it would be this certain technician that has done every ultrasou
nd that I've had for this pregnancy (which had been 3 before this one). Her name is Joy and she's always upbeat and cheery, allowing me to cry and be sentimental without making me feel silly. She takes her time with me and I appreciate her. Well, it wasn't Joy that came to get us out of the waiting room. I don't know who this woman was - never seen her before. She did not hold Joy's disposition and our initial conversation went something like this.

Technician: Do you want to know the gender if I can tell?
Us: Yes please
Her: (after moving the wand around on my belly for about 20 seconds) Well, it's a girl and she definitely wants you to know about it (sister spread her legs WIDE open).
Me: (Words of elation and joy between Collin and I) I will be 20 weeks in 2 days so everything is developed at this point, right? I mean there's no way there's a weewee that we just cannot see?
Her: (After some ridiculous pointless talk about how certain boy parts do not drop until 36 weeks but how the gender is determined at 5-6 weeks -- totally not what I was even asking) Honey, your daughter does not have a weewee (she said the p word but my
mom made me promise not to write that word on my blog - lol). There were some other zinger one liners
that Miss Sarcasm gave us but that was my favorite. "Honey, your d
aughter does not have a p
____". That's definitely a line for the baby book :)

We went to dinner that night with some family and shared the news of our little girl on the way. I ran by Hobby Lobby after the appointment and bought stuff to make a little shirt for Cayden to announce the news. I was dying all day to tell people but glad we waited. It was a fun night.

As far as baby girl, she looked perfect and did give us a pe
rfect shot of her p____-less area. The technician went on to say, "Not only does she not have a p____ but you can see her girl parts." She did
n't say girl parts but I'm pretty sure my mom would frown on me writing that word on my blog as well! So, suffice it to say I am feeling pretty confident about hitting up all the cute little girl shops and stocking up on some pink. Here are some pics of our little sweetheart.

Her sweet little profile

The she's-definitely-a-girl shot

Sucking her thumb. Can hardly wait to meet her in just over 4 months!

We are thinking PINK!!!

2011-05-03T20:49:00.004-05:00

We are thrilled to announce that the newest addition to our family is a healthy baby girl! Baby sister was not shy in the least and gave us the "money shot" almost immediately. The ultrasound tech said, "She is definitely a girl and wants you to know about it!" She had one arm up above her head and was sucking the thumb of her other hand. I think it's safe to say she already has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

It's a welcome change to be shopping in the always plenty to choose from girls section! When you're used to all things boy, it's exciting and a little overwhelming (in the very best way possible) to be entering the realm of all things girly. We were both hoping this baby would be a girl, although we would be thrilled either way, so we are over the moon excited about our daughter! I have to get used to saying that :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T09:38:00.017-05:00

Easter is a holiday that I always look forward to and this year was especially exciting with a 2 year old in the house. The fact that our Savior was willing to die for us gives us the best reason in the world to celebrate - we are able to freely come to God! I want Cayden to understand and celebrate the joy that we share as Christians. We had lots of fun activities planned over this Easter weekend.

Collin had good Friday off and we enjoyed hanging out as a family. We made and decorated Easter cookies.

We had a quick run in with our neighbor who decided that good Friday would be a nice day to replace the fence between our house and hers WITHOUT TELLING US. The nice thing is that it's the Cadillac of fences and she's not asking us to pay for it but it's a little shocking to go in the backyard and have no fence on one side! I was in shock and not happy at all but I got over it once I realized there was nothing I could do about it - our fence was already torn down! Our fence is stained and the new fence sticks out like a sore thumb in our backyard but we can stain it if we want. The whole thing ended cordially and we're still on good terms with our neighbor but I think that she got the picture that no communication is not going to fly in this neighbor relationship.

We went to the good Friday service at my parents church that night. My dad was serving the Lord's Supper so it was neat to be at their church for that. Cayden did great at their nursery. I wasn't sure how it would go since it was a new place but he walked right in and didn't cry or anything. He didn't even turn back to look at us! Awesome.

Saturday morning, our little threesome met up with the Simpson's little threesome and we headed over to hunt some Easter Eggs. Cayden was more interested in looking at all the kids than getting candy. I think all the kids everywhere overwhelmed him. Those things make me laugh. They're over in less than a minute and some parents treat it like a contest. There were so many moms picking up their kids and pushing their way through the maze of children, grabbing as much candy as they could. Poor Cayden felt a little trampled but he got over it afterwards when mom opened a kit-kat from his Easter basket. Ha!

After a brief stint of playground time, we went to eat with the Simpson's and then came home for nap time. We had planned on doing another Easter Egg hunt that afternoon but decided to skip that and do some activities at home with DeeDee and Pawpaw. My parents came over and we colored Easter Eggs, I baked for the next day's festivities, and we made Resurrection Rolls.

Cayden enjoyed playing on DeeDee and Pawpaw's new Ipad.

After an excited little boy looked through his Easter basket on Sunday morning, we headed of to church to celebrate our Risen King!

Cayden LOVES this Elmo toy. It has gone everywhere with him since he got it Easter morning. Maylee has one and Cayden loves it so I knew that an Elmo of his very own would be a big hit.

Church was so good. I always love the Easter service. Seeing sweet little kids dressed up in hats and pastel colors makes me giddy. I love the excitement from the Easter service. As believers, we have so much to be excited about! The music was sooo good. (Steph, if you're reading this, tell Steve that he did a great job - I was blessed and encouraged by it!) Cayden was singing praise and worship songs on the way home from church and it about made my heart melt. We got home from church and took a few pictures. We didn't feel like messing with the timer on the camera to get a whole family shot before we got out of our Easter clothes.

Here's me at 18 weeks, 3 days pregnant with our second child.

Someone was pretty excited about his Easter candy!

After we changed clothes, we headed over to my parents house to spend the day. After naps, Cayden was excited to learn that he got another Easter basket from DeeDee and Pawpaw.

And he got a very cool doctor kit. It has a pager that goes off and a stethoscope that makes noise.

I think he likes it!

Cayden got a giant bubble wand so we had to go outside and test it out. Fun times.

My mom totally outdid herself with Easter dinner this year. She blessed me because all I had to do was a dessert, deviled eggs, and homemade rolls. She did everything else and it was sooo yummy. She made a tangerine glazed spiral ham and oh-my-word...I really liked it. We still have some in our fridge but it will be gone very soon!

It was a great Easter and I hope you had a nice weekend reflecting on what this holiday is about and spending time with loved ones.

18 Weeks

2011-04-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 Weeks

Size of baby: About 5.6 inches - the size of a sweet potato - and weighs around 6.7 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 4 lbs

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing mostly maternity at this point. My

pants/shorts/skirts are all maternity and most of my shirts/dresses are too. I feel like my bump has really grown the last couple of weeks.

Gender: We will find out on May 2nd (@ 19 weeks, 5 days). Only 12 days to go!! I am so excited to know who/what this sweet little one is. Cayden is constantly saying "baby tummy" and patting my stomach - it warms my heart! Eager to start calling this baby by name.

Movement: Feeling random small movements pretty much daily. Excited for them to get stronger and more frequent!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. I am struggling with sleeping on my back and

tummy. I am a big tummy sleeper -- got a pregnancy wedge last week and that is helping some. As soon as I get comfortable, I have to get up to pee; Ha - the joys of pregnancy!

What I miss: Other than the aforementioned sleeping situation, I don't miss too much right now.

Cravings: Still not craving much. I remember being really hungry with Cayden, but with this pregnancy, I have yet to reach the starving-all-the-time stage. And I have to eat small meals because I feel AWFUL ROTTEN if I eat too much. I have trouble figuring out what to eat for lunch everyday because nothing really sounds good to me.

Symptoms: I am a lot more achy with this pregnancy. I didn't notice any aches or pains until the end with my first, but this go around I am already having random back pains and lots

of achiness through my mid section. I still have my doubts if what I am experiencing is round ligament pain, but whatever it is - not what I consider a fun time.

Best Moment this week: Cayden has been SO sweet the past couple days and I am enjoying those moments because with a 2 yr old, who knows how long they'll last!

As you can tell from the above picture, I chopped my hair off. They say you shouldn't make any rash hair decisions when you're pregnant but I just got fed up with my long hair. It had gotten SO long - about half a foot was cut off! Although my stylist cut it about an inch shorter than I wanted it, I like it and am enjoying my summer 'do! We are gearing up for Easter around here and are so excited to celebrate our risen King this weekend!

Humbled

2011-04-19T12:41:00.004-05:00

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’

“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

Matthew 25:31-46

I love my husband. I am blessed by him. God uses him to grow me, teach me, encourage me, love me, and more often that I would care to admit, humble me. One such instance was last night. He came home from work like any other day. I was in the kitchen making dinner and after he hugged Cayd and I, he asked me how long it would be until dinner was ready. I told him it would be a little while and he asked me if I could quickly whip up a sack lunch. He then explained that he saw a man, potentially homeless, on the side of the road with a sign that said he was out of work and needed help. He had given him $4 from his wallet but came home with a heavy heart wanting to do more - obviously the Holy Spirit at work. I put together a sandwich and some things to go with it while Collin searched for a cold, unopened bottle of water from our fridge. Without finding one, he commented that he would just stop by a gas station and pick one up. I immediately froze. He was going to buy this man a water? Couldn't he just buy his own water out of the $4 Collin gave him? We are saving all of our extra money right now to go towards vacation. Who knows what this man is going to do with all the money he got from panhandling all day anyway. Can't we expect him to get his own water? I am ashamed to admit that these were my initial thoughts.

Collin left to take this man dinner and I stood over our stove, pounding out my frustration on some innocent mashed potatoes. I began to pray. And immediately, I was overcome with regret. How could I be so upset over a $2 bottle of water? I was overwhelmed at my selfishness. At the ugliness of my heart. So humbled at the sacrifices that have been made for me despite how completely undeserving I am. Collin came home about 15 minutes later and began telling me what happened. He took the man, who he learned was named Michael, the sack of food and they talked for a couple minutes. Michael is a fifty-something year old man who is out of work right now. Collin and Michael, who professes to be a Christian, prayed together. Collin said after the prayer, Michael was crying and when Collin hugged him, Michael held on for a long time. This broke my heart. The poor guy just needed a hug! I learned in Psych 101 in college that as humans, we need to be hugged 7 (at least I think it is 7...) times a day. I wonder when was the last time that anyone lovingly embraced Michael.

Collin told me when he got home that he was convicted from a passage in a book that he is reading right now. The book is Radical by David Platt and in this particular passage, David is talking about how he was preaching on giving - he's a pastor - and how a very wealthy man from his congregation came to see him one random day. He told him how he'd been thinking about everything that David had been preaching about and he had gotten really mad about it. But the more he thought about it and prayed over it, the more he was realizing that David was right. So, he began giving away a lot of his money, properties, etc. He made a comment (I'm paraphrasing this so excuse me because it's not exact) that he was pretty sure that when he reaches those pearly gates and stands before the throne, that God's not going to say to him, "I wish you had kept more for yourself."

Wow. Powerful words of truth that I definitely needed to hear. Lord, forgive me for my greedy, selfish heart! Rid me of myself and get me out of the way so that I may be useful to you. To love others. To help them financially. To feed them. To hug them. To bring them to You.

17 Weeks

2011-04-14T20:46:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 17 Weeks

Size of baby: About 5.1 inches - the size of an onion - and weighs around 5.9 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 3 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Some maternity, some not. Most of my pants are maternity because they're just more comfortable. Shirts/dresses are a mix of small maternity and regular. I feel like my bump has really popped out this week!

Gender: We will find out on May 2nd (@ 19 weeks, 5 days). Only 19 days!!

Movement: Feeling random small movements periodically. Excited for them to get stronger and more frequent!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Not too much these days, maybe sleeping on my stomach and back. Just happy to be feeling better!

Cravings: Not a whole lot. I have eaten 3 ears of corn on the cobb over the last week and have loved it. I wanted a baked potato with bbq in it over the last week and last night I really wanted pizza with pineapple and canadian bacon. I would love to have some Cream Soda too. Basically, mostly stuff that is bad for me :)

Symptoms: My symptoms have calmed down this week. As long as I don't let myself get hungry or haven't eaten too much in one sitting, I haven't felt sick. Woo hoo! The only really annoying symptom has been what I guess is round ligament pain. Well, and the constant having to "potty".

Best Moment this week: Feeling better!

We have tons of things going on right now and the weeks seem to be flying by! The weather has been great so we've been enjoying going to the park and spending time outside. Trying to enjoy it before it's so hot and I get huge!

16 Weeks

2011-04-07T14:00:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 Weeks

Size of baby: About 4.6 inches - the size of an avocado - and weighs around 3.5 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 2 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Some maternity, some not. Most of my pants are maternity because they're just more comfortable. Shirts/dresses are a mix of small maternity and regular.

Gender: We will find out on May 2nd (@ 19 weeks, 5 days)!

Movement: I have felt quite a few little flutters over the last few days. So exciting!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Having consistent energy. And I'm starting to get to that part of pregnancy where it's not comfortable to sleep on my stomach and I'm starting to miss that. I'm doing this modified leg hike move and that is sort of working for now. And I would LOVE a corn dog.

Cravings: I am starting to get my appetite back - thankfully. Not really been craving much but I'm sure it's coming. This doesn't count as a crazing but we had Benbrook Grill for dinner last night and the fried zucchini that I had tasted sooo good. Might have to be having that again soon!

Symptoms: I've had a bit of a set back this week. Had to run to the bathroom a few times thanks to my friend morning sickness and have been feeling tired. Also had my first emotional hormonal breakdown yesterday. My poor face is still getting in on the pregnancy action by breaking out like a 13 year old. I also recently started having what my doctor thinks is round ligament pain. I never experienced it with my 1st pregnancy so I wasn't sure what it was. Fun times.

Best Moment this week: Hearing the baby's heartbeat via doppler today. It makes all the icky feelings over the last week so worth it! The doctor had a hard time finding it today and it totally freaked me out until she did. She eventually did and said that the delay was because the baby was moving around like crazy. The doppler was making weird noises and she said that noise was the baby kicking. I couldn't feel the kicking right then but how cool! Pregnancy is such a miracle.

The doctor answered all my questions today and cleared me for vacation in several weeks. Everything is going great and I'm so thankful for this precious baby!

Have I mentioned...

2011-04-02T07:30:00.000-05:00

how much I adore these two? Also, I think Mac's are pretty rad.

15 Weeks

2011-03-31T14:13:00.008-05:00

I apologize for the continual pictures with no face! I have been taking them myself while Collin is at work and I cannot seem to get the camera adjusted on the timer with my face in the shot!

I'm 15 weeks pregnant!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 15 Weeks

Size of baby: About 4.0 inches - the size of a navel orange - and weighs around 2.5 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 1 lb

Maternity Clothes: Some maternity, some not. Most of my pants are maternity because they're just more comfortable. Shirts/dresses are a mix of small maternity and regular.

Gender: We will find out in 4-5 more weeks!

Movement: Not much to report over the last week. Ready for that stage, though!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Having energy. And I'm starting to get to that part of pregnancy where it's not comfortable to sleep on my stomach and I'm starting to miss that. I'm doing this modified leg hike move and that is working for now.

Cravings: I am starting to get my appetite back - thankfully. Not really been craving much but I'm sure it's coming. I'm pretty good at telling what I don't want though! :)

Symptoms: Feeling much better this week. No major nausea to speak of - yay! I have to be careful what I eat - cannot get too hungry or too full or I feel yucky but other than that, feeling much better! I am still very tired all the time and need a nap every afternoon. My old friend heartburn set in 2 nights ago so now I have a bottle of Tums Smoothies sitting on my nightstand. My face also recently decided to get into this pregnancy and as of this last week I am breaking out like I'm in middle school. Fun times. With Cayden, I broke out early on and then once I got into the 2nd trimester it tapered off. This go around, it's going to be the opposite I guess. It's all worth it in the end for sweet baby, though!

Best Moment this week: Definitely feeling better has been a highlight. If I could get some energy back too, I might start to feel "normal"! Ha!

This has been a weird week. The weather has been uncharacteristically cool and overcast and we've spent a lot of time indoors. Cayden desperately wants to play outside. Cayden developed this weird itchy rash the other night that I was afraid might be the beginnings of chicken pox. He wasn't running fever or acting sick, though, so we figured it wasn't that. Collin says it looked just like an allergic reaction rash that he had in high school. Cayd hadn't eaten/played with/done anything abnormal that day so I don't know what it could have been a reaction to but it went away the next day. That is the second weird rash that he's had in the last month. He has SUCH sensitive skin.

Back to pregnancy - The baby's legs are now longer than its arms this week. And it has functional joints. The hair on its head is growing, blood vessels are forming under the skin, and the baby might already be sucking its thumb at this point. Amazing. The process by which God grows a life is so amazing. To think that Collin and I have anything major to do with this miracle would be entirely self-involved and ridiculous. I am just so thankful He chose to bless us with this baby and is knitting them together so perfectly!

I have been struggling with being so tired. I don't have energy to do much but I'm sure the cloud will lift soon and I'll feel like resuming life as we knew it. Can hardly wait to find out what this sweet baby is in about a month! It's funny to me - with Cayden, we had talked about names from what seems like the moment we learned we were prego. This time around, we have hardly talked about names. I'm sure that will pick up in the coming weeks. It will be fun to start calling the baby by name and not, "it" or "the baby".

My in-laws are coming into town this weekend and we're so excited to see them! We haven't seen them since Cayden's birthday party so it will be great to spend the weekend with them.

14 Weeks

2011-03-24T14:52:00.004-05:00

I'm 14 weeks pregnant!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 14 Weeks

Size of baby: About 3.4 inches - the size of a lemon - and weighs around 1.5 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 1 lb

Maternity Clothes: I pulled out a pair of secret fit belly maternity pants today and I am SO glad that I did! Forgot how comfy these suckers are! I am starting to wear certain maternity shirts too. I am still wearing some regular shirts but a lot of them just make me look fat - it seems like maternity shirts are more flattering for a baby belly. They make me feel less fat anyway!

Gender: We will find out in 5-6 more weeks!

Movement: I know I've felt the baby a couple times over the last few days. I didn't feel Cayden until about 18 weeks so it seems really early to me but maybe since I know what it feels like this time I am able to recognize it sooner? I have felt the baby a couple of nights this week - an hour or two after dinner when I am laying in bed. It has felt like a small amount of pressure leaning into my belly button.

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Feeling good and having energy. And I'm starting to get to that part of pregnancy where it's not comfortable to sleep on my stomach and I'm starting to miss that. I'm doing this modified leg hike move and that is working for now.

Cravings: Not too much this week. Still in the nothing-sounds-good to me stage.

Symptoms: I think I'm slowly feeling better. I ate some leftovers from Olive Garden on Monday for lunch and it had me running to the bathroom. Baby doesn't like Toscana soup, I guess! I haven't felt as good this week as I was hoping but surely it'll be gone soon. Still feel like I need a nap every afternoon. And I think it's just allergies but I have been getting a headache every afternoon that lasts until bedtime. That's spring in Texas for you!

Best Moment this week: Hands down - feeling the baby. So excited for the movements to get stronger and frequent! We moved Cayden to a toddler bed and he has done SO well. So proud of him for that!

I still get confused about when the 2nd trimester actually starts. Some things say 13 weeks, some say 14, and I even have friends that think it's 12. I'm too nice to correct them but I know 12 isn't right. But, regardless of your thoughts on the matter, 14 weeks means I am there my friends. And I could not be more happy about it! SURELY, I will be feeling a lot better in the next week. I get frustrated because I want to be doing all these things and I don't have the energy for it most of the time. The weather is gorgeous - I want to be able to play outside with my nature-loving-Cayden everyday, take him to the park and enjoy it before the temps are in the 100's and we lock ourselves in the air conditioning for a majority of the summer. My house needs a deep cleaning desperately. My closet needs to be reorganized. I'm pretty sure that Collin isn't loving all the maternity clothes cramped into our already pretty packed closet, creating even less space for him. I need to purge. I also really want to paint a few more rooms in my house that have white walls still. Ahhhh, I digress. Hopefully soon I'll feel good enough to actually mark some of those things off the list.

This has been a big week as far as baby's go. Our friends the Sparkman's welcomed their sweet daughter, Emerson Leigh, into the world on Sunday night. She weighed just over 8 lbs and I couldn't believe she was that big because Michele, her mama, did not look like she was carrying an 8 lb baby! Cayden was 8.3 and I was HUGE! Curt and Michele didn't find out what they were having and I think they kind of thought it would be a boy. I am so excited for them that it's a girl! They have a little boy who's about to turn 3. I think it's so neat for family's to have one of each. I also think it's a cool idea to not find out what you're having. The control freak in me would have a really hard time not finding out if I didn't already have one of each gender. That's kind of what I hope for this pregnancy - that it's a girl and then if we decide to have another we could wait to find out the gender. We'll just see what the good Lord has in store for us!

My former boss and his wife welcomed triplets on Monday morning. They were told all were girls and were shocked that Baby B turned out to be a boy! They had been told during the pregnancy that Baby B had very little amniotic fluid around "her" and that it could signal a potential problem with the kidneys, which could lead to breathing problems after birth. The triplets were born seemingly healthy - Baby B, whom they named Micah, was born breathing on his own. His condition soon worsened and he went to be with the Lord on Tuesday morning. I have been so heartbroken over this. I cannot imagine the roller coaster of emotions that this family is on. The girls, McKenna and McKayla, are still in the NICU where they will stay for a while but they are doing well. Please lift up the Motes family including their 6 year old daughter Madison as they grieve, recover, and care for these tiny newborns. And count your blessings that you have healthy kids!

A little transition

2011-03-21T17:27:00.005-05:00

We had a big weekend at our house! Since Cayden has a lot of transitions coming up (potty training, a big boy bed, and becoming a big brother) over the next 6 months, we decided that it was time to move him to his toddler bed. We had talked about doing it around his 2nd bday but we learned about the new baby around that time and I began to feel so rotten that his toddler bed took a backseat for a while. We are blessed with a laid back first born who did fine in his crib - never tried to climb out - and was totally content staying in it so it wasn't a big deal to wait. We are planning on moving him to a double bed this summer before the baby comes in September so we decided to go ahead and transition him to the toddler bed now. He was really excited "helping" daddy take the footboard off his crib and replace it with the little toddler rail. He squealed as he climbed up into the bed himself once it was finished and then bounced around excitedly.

The getting out of bed on his own part just might be his favorite...

I was a little concerned how the night would go. Cayd is a CrAZy sleeper and I had images of him catapulting himself onto the floor in the night. I made a little pallet on the floor in case he fell out of bed (he apparently didn't like the pallet though because every time I went in there after I had put him to bed (which ended up being a total of 4 times), the things from the floor were pulled up into the bed with him!).

He cried his "I'm-a-little-scared" cry when I walked out of the room. I went back in there after a minute and we had another pep talk and prayed again. He cried when I walked out again but only for a second. Then he started playing...and playing...and playing. Until 11:30!!! Which is why I had to go in there 3 more times. He had a poopy diaper but even after I changed him, he still played for about 45 minutes before falling asleep. Crazy kid. I am happy to report that he did not one time get out of his bed on his own, though. We were watching on the video monitor. And he didn't fall out either :)

He woke up for church on his own the next morning (surprising since he was up until 11:30!) and happily played in his bed for 15 minutes before daddy went in to get him. So far so good. Lets hope the next transitions go just as smoothly!

13 weeks

2011-03-17T14:46:00.008-05:00

I'm 13 weeks pregnant!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 13 Weeks

Size of baby: About 2.9 inches - the size of a peach - and weighs around .81 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained maybe 1/2 lb at most

Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing maternity pants (not the secret fit belly ones but the stretchy waisted ones) but everything else is pretty much still my regular clothes.

Gender: We will find out in 6-7 more weeks!

Movement: I've felt a little random popping down pretty low over the last week. I keep telling myself it's too early to feel the baby - surely it's just something else. I'm looking forward to feeling more distinctive movement in about a month!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Feeling good and having energy. And I'm starting to get to that part of pregnancy where it's not comfortable to sleep on my stomach and I'm starting to miss that.

Cravings: Over the last week I started craving watermelon lime slushes from Sonic. So good!

Symptoms: I think I'm slowly feeling better. If I let myself get hungry or if I overeat, I get sick to my stomach so I'm trying to just eat a little bit every hour. Still feel like I need a nap every afternoon.

Best Moment this week: Happy to be in the second trimester and getting to the honeymoon phase of pregnancy. I plan to enjoy it thoroughly!

I get confused about when the 2nd trimester actually starts - I have heard 13 and 14 weeks. I have a pregnancy app on my iPhone that says 13 weeks so I am going with it! We have eaten at two swanky steakhouses in the last week and I have eaten way too much rich food. I got nauseas afterwards both times so I am really trying to be careful what I eat. The weather is GORGEOUS here so I am looking forward to grilling out in the near future! My picture this week makes me look so big already! We took the picture right after eating dinner and dessert - I don't think I'm that big all the time...at least not yet!

First sleepover

2011-03-15T21:45:00.005-05:00

My big boy had his first sleepover without mom and dad present. Last Friday was our anniversary and Cayden spent the night with his DeeDee and PawPaw! My mom picked Cayden up after she got off work. He was so excited, although he had no idea why! Although we had talked about it all day, he didn't quite get the concept that momma and dada weren't coming too.

Family shot before we headed our different directions. You don't know what a ridiculous time I had figuring out something to wear! I hate being in this awkward - looks like I've just been visiting Dunkin' Donuts a little too much lately - phase of pregnancy. My regular clothes don't fit anymore but I'm not really big enough for most of my maternity clothes - especially nice, go out to a fancy restaurant maternity clothes. Ahhh, I digress.

I wasn't worried about how Cayden would do. He's so comfortable with my parents - I knew he would have a blast and not get home sick. I was, however, a little concerned for my mom about how Cayden would do sleeping. He's not a sleep-anywhere kind of kid and he definitely isn't a good co-sleeper. My parents bought bed rails and put him in a daybed in one of their guest rooms and then my mom slept on the trundle right next to him. I am THRILLED to say that it went wonderful! Cayden slept all night and so did DeeDee! They did all sorts of fun things and he had a great time! Thanks DeeDee and PawPaw for allowing Collin and I to have a nice date night Friday night and for lovin' on our little man. I see lots more sleepovers in the future!

5 Years down...

2011-03-11T17:55:00.001-06:00

Today, we are celebrating 5 years of being married. Five years married to my very best friend. They've by far been the best 5 years of my life. Years of joy, sanctification, growth, and a few trials.

My dearest Collin,

God knew what He was doing when He brought us together. You compliment me in so many ways and make me a better person. You spur me on in my relationship with the Lord. You make me want to be a better mom. You lift my spirits when I'm down and constantly encourage me with your positive spirit and love for Christ. I could not have hand picked a better spouse for myself, and I guess that makes sense because it's so evident that God handpicked you just for me.

Five years married have brought us:

-1 apartment

-2 houses

-1 brief move in with your in-laws

-2 kids

-1 new car

-1 lawsuit

- a 300 mile across state move

-a couple different new jobs for both of us

-countless laughter

-the loss of a loved one

-a few disappointments and hurdles to overcome

-unmeasurable joy

-lots of growth

I love you more everyday and look forward to a lifetime more of experiences and memories with you.

All my love,

Kristin

12 Weeks

2011-03-10T13:30:00.006-06:00

I'm 12 weeks pregnant!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 12 Weeks

Size of baby: About 2.1 inches - the size of a plum - and weighs around .49 oz

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 0 lbs - Weight has stayed the same

Maternity Clothes: I recently started wearing maternity pants (not the secret fit belly ones but just stretchy waisted ones) but everything else is regular. You definitely start showing sooner the second time around!

Gender: So excited to find out - just 2 more months!

Movement: None yet but I'm anxious to feel it - totally my favorite part of pregnancy!

Sleep: I'm so tired that I sleep pretty well. If it wasn't for having to get up and pee multiple times in the night, I would sleep great!

What I miss: Feeling good and having energy. I would also LOVE to have a corn dog from the fair.

Cravings: Nothing really. I haven't had much of an appetite - nothing sounds good. The only things I have wanted on a somewhat regular basis are some form of potatoes (baked potatoes, potato soup) or grapefruit.

Symptoms: I have been fairly queasy since week 6 but it seems to be tapering off - yay! I feel like I need a nap every afternoon but am hoping to get some of my energy back soon.

Best Moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat via doppler at my doctor's appointment.

I am very happy to be approaching the second trimester and am looking forward to feeling good again. I remember my mother-in-law saying that when she was pregnant with Collin, she just felt awful. Before she knew she was pregnant, she went to the doctor and told him that she knew she must be dying and just to tell her how much time she had. Ha! I have definitely felt yuckier this go around than I did with my first and am ready for higher energy levels and a calmer tummy! At the doctor today, I was told that I am measuring 14 weeks instead of 12. Lovely! The doc said it's just because it's a second baby and that the weeks usually don't line up until you hit the 20 week mark. But still...I cannot help but wonder if I'll have another 8 lb baby. That didn't go so well for me last time so I am hoping not quite that big!

Adventures in haircutting

2011-03-06T18:27:00.002-06:00

If you have read this blog for very long you might have read about my experience in getting Cayden's hair cut. It's not been pleasant. I took him a total of 4 times during his second year of life to get his haircut and he acted as though they were trying to murder him. It's a very traumatic and stressful experience for both of us and I vowed not to do it any longer.

Little boy needed a haircut in a bad way. A bad way. It was shaggy in his eyes and stuck out about an inch and a half below his ears on both sides. It was getting to the point that I was embarrassed to take him out in public - ha! So, we put on our brave faces and attempted to give Cayden a haircut at home, all the while hoping that it would go better than last time when I butchered it and had to take him in to Cool Cuts for Kids to remedy momma's bad haircut. We thought he would do better with us doing it but weren't sure how he would act. We decided to do it out on our back porch. We took a bar stool out there and all the materials we were going to need. As we were setting up, I noticed Cayden playing with something on the deck. It was a small hard ball of some sort and he was throwing it down and then running after it. I went over to investigate and out of the corner of my eye I saw it. A piece of it I should say. We used to have a cute little bunny that lived under our wood deck but not anymore... Something had torn it to shreds and there were pieces of it everywhere. Collin took pictures of it but I won't disgust you with the image of Thumper torn to pieces all over our deck. I still don't know what it is exactly that Cayden was playing with but needless to say, we rushed inside and washed our hands about a dozen times while daddy cleaned up the mess. Fun times. So, plan B - we were losing light and decided to move into the garage. Make sure you notice the giant garage sale pile behind Cayden :)

See how long and shaggy his hair was!

So Collin began to cut it...Cayden cried and whined a bit but overall did REALLY good. He kept saying, "I prouda you" - wanting us to praise him for his good behavior. Precious kid. He was playing a game on my phone and it served as a pretty good distraction. That and fruit snacks. Collin started buzzing the back but it proved really hard to fade with the top still so long. Then he tried to cut the top. Before long, it turned into a chili bowl. You can see my hand over my mouth laughing in the picture below. I gave Collin an E for effort - he did a better job than I could have but poor Cayden looked ridiculous. In typical mom fashion, I still think he looked cute though. Ridiculous but cute.

We decided to call it a night knowing that his hair was still salvageable and we'd deal with it the next day. Here he is the next morning sportin' his chili bowl.

From the back - look how uneven it was!

We decided to try to fix it ourselves instead of taking him in. Collin went and bought another set of clippers that had more guards for fading and after another 30 minutes of haircutting, we ended up buzzing it all with an 8. Collin did a much better job fading the back and after a little time to get used to it, we really like it!

He's playing that same game on my phone here. We don't allow him to play it that often but it's the only way I could get him to hold still for a picture! He's a busy boy these days :) It makes him look so much older! Collin thinks we'll still be able to spike the front but we haven't tried yet. We're planning on continuing the at-home haircuts. This is going to be less stressful on everyone, easier on the wallet, and with more practice I have faith that Collin will become a haircutting pro! Hopefully our traumatic haircutting days are over. And just maybe the next haircut won't involve a dead animal!

JBF

2011-03-02T11:46:00.006-06:00

Morning sickness has found me once again this pregnancy. Actually, it found me with a vengeance and has been rather mean to me this go around. I get randomly queasy throughout the day but if I keep my tummy full I can curb the sickness. I end up hitting a brick wall of nausea around 5:00 every afternoon and feel pretty lousy until I go to bed at night. Thankfully I am married to an incredible man who has selflessly picked up the extra slack around the house. I am not complaining, though, as I'm so thankful to be pregnant and it could be so so much worse. I will be 11 weeks tomorrow so hopefully I'll be feeling better and have more energy soon!

As exhausted and yucky as I've been feeling, I've had a pretty busy several days. Larissa and I volunteered to work the Just Between Friends Sale again this year and we got to shop last night. JBF is a community wide consignment sale. Collin and Clint (Larissa's husband) call it GGS - Glorified Garage Sale. Ha! The funny thing is, it kind of is like a big garage sale for moms. The items are nice - the clothes and shoes go through inspection. Everything goes under rigorous review to ensure that nothing that has been recalled goes out on the selling floor. All bedding (anything with filling actually) gets sprayed down with Micoban. No large baby equipment is sold if it has a manufacturer date past 5 years. It's good quality stuff. I have to share what I got because it's such a great deal! If you have young kiddos (up to size 12) or are pregnant, you have to check it out!

I got a Combi lightweight side-by-side double stroller for $50. In case you're not in the realm of all things baby - that is a good deal! This stroller sells for over $200 retail. I looked at the Sit and Stands, which came highly recommended by lots of people, but I think this will work better for our family. If we go to the zoo, for example, Cayden will be out of the stroller for most of the time and then he'll get tired and want to sit down and lean back and chill. With a Sit & Stand, that's not possible. He could sit down but there's nothing to lean back on. I am almost certain it wouldn't be a good fit for him or us. This stroller is easy to maneuver, lightweight and simple enough for me to fold up and easily put in the back of my SUV (it amazingly takes up less room than our Chicco single!), it's narrow enough to fit through standard size doorways, and it's in really good condition! It needs to be cleaned up a bit (crumbs and things under the cushions but no stains) but another thing I liked about it is that the seat cushions come off and can be washed. I brought it in the house today and Cayden wanted to immediately sit in it and after I explained that the baby in mommy's tummy right now will eventually be sitting in the seat next to him, he acted like he really liked that and kept pointing and saying, "Tiny baby sit here." Ha - we'll see how he likes it once that time is here!

I also bought a Medela electric double breast pump for $25. That is a steal! I borrowed the exact same pump from my sister-in-law when Cayden was born - I just bought my own shields and equipment that goes with it. This go around, I decided I would just see if they had one and got one for a ridiculously cheap price. The newer version retails in stores for over $200. Score.

I bought a video monitor for $75. This is a little more than I wanted to spend but still less than half of what you would pay retail. It's still in the box in almost perfect condition. They didn't have a huge selection of these and I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and get it. Cayden had/has a regular monitor and it worked great but this baby will be put in its crib a lot sooner than Cayden was and the peace of mind is worth it to me.

I got 16 books for Cayden for about $15.50. Since he is a winter birthday and it's so close to Christmas, I like to have little things like this that I can pull out randomly for him throughout the rest of the year.

I got some cute maternity clothes for myself including: (didn't total the prices, sorry!)

2 dresses

1 skirt

2 pairs of shorts

1 top

1 swimsuit (which I am so pumped about because it's C-U-T-E!)

I got some spring/summer clothes for Cayden including: (again, didn't total this up)

6 pairs of shorts

7 tops

2 sweater vests

1 swimsuit

1 pair of pants

I got all of that for about $280. That is an awesome deal! And I have to tell you that the clothes are name brand items. Not that any of that matters but I say that to say that these are quality items that will last. If you are a savvy shopper and live in a place that has JBF, I strongly encourage you to go! Just google Just Between Friends and you will find the website. If you're in a large city, chances are they'll have one. I know they do in most cities in Texas anyhow.

Plans

2011-02-17T07:48:00.001-06:00

I am a planner by nature. Always have been. I am an avid list maker and will plan out weekly things I want to get done, etc. More than short term goals, I really like to plan out long-term things...

In high school, I could tell you exactly where I would go to college, what I would study, and when I would graduate, who I would marry and when, how many kids we would have and what their names would be. Looking back on that vision of what my life would be, I cannot help but laugh outloud. Mainly because I was silly and naive to think that my life would seriously go exactly as I planned it. But also because I am so thrilled that my life did not go as I planned it. It's so much better!

Thankfully, I serve a God who laughs at my plans. I ended up going to 3 different colleges, none of them the one that I always thought I would go to. I changed my major to something that I never imagined I would do and was in college a lot longer than I thought I would be. I met and fell in love with the most wonderful man I've ever known and believe it or not, he was/is a year younger than me (gasp!). Despite me spending the majority of my life saying that I would never be with someone younger than me, I married the younger man of my dreams about 3 years later (in a month that I never imagined I would marry, mind you). Definitely not what I had planned -- but waaaay better.

After a year and a half of wedded bliss, we started trying to get pregnant. We were young and healthy and sure it wouldn't take us very long. So many people around us were getting pregnant quickly and we excitedly thought that we would join their ranks soon. Much to our disappointment, a few months went by and still no positive pregnancy test. I began to worry. Looking back, I know how silly it was to worry but as a person who's lifelong dream was/is to be a wife and mom, it was heartbreaking thinking that something might be wrong. It ended up taking us 8 months to get pregnant with Cayden. God taught us a lot in that time of waiting but more importantly, showed us a lot about His sovereignty after we saw those two pink lines. We learned just 3 1/2 months later that we would be making a 300 mile across state move. I won't bore you with details, but trust me when I say that God's plan was so perfect. Everything fell into place. And I got to be pregnant (just 3 weeks apart!) with my very best friend -- something we always hoped we would get to experience together.

Fast forward a couple of years -- Cayden just turned 2 on January 6th. We had prayed about and decided that around his 2nd birthday would be a good time to try for another baby. We were hopeful that it would happen sooner than it did last time but weren't naive going into it this go-around either. With that said, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this not even a week after Cayden's birthday:

I was so shocked that I took several more tests. We are thrilled about this unexpected blessing. So without further ado, meet our newest baby Day:

Expected due date is September 22, 2011. I am so thankful that my Lord is in control and not me. His ways are so much better and make life so much more fun, smooth, challenging, and interesting all at the same time!

Happy Valentine's Day from ALL of us!

2011-02-14T11:01:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentines Day from the 4 of us!

Quick Life Update & Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T17:22:00.005-06:00

Things have been pretty wild around here lately between the Super Bowl being in our humble city and the Arctic Blast that visited us recently. The week before the Super Bowl, the city of Fort Worth received several inches of ice and snow. Collin stayed home from work 3 of the 5 days and we enjoyed being snowed in together! It was REALLY cold so we didn't get out to play much. We actually had wind chills in the negatives! Crazy weather for Texas.

Collin is a big time Steeler's fan so the Super Bowl was a big deal at our house this year. Cayden loves watching football and was so cute in his Hines Ward jersey. He would watch and then yell, "GO GO GO!" The funny thing was he would yell during a commercial or something - never really during the right time. He wants to be just like his daddy. Precious. Makes me so excited for the days that are coming all too soon when we'll watch him playing soccer and he'll run down the field the wrong direction and score for the other team. Ha! Cayden's favorite part of the Super Bowl was playing "Tackle" with daddy.

We are not big into Valentine's Day at our house. We don't celebrate big time or buy one another elaborate gifts. I don't buy into the whole cheesy commercialized part of the holiday. I do, however, want to use it to talk about love. Real love. What it looks like. How loved we are by our Heavenly Father. How in turn we are called to love others.

We have been doing some craft projects to help us to focus on love and what it means. We made stained glass hearts out of crayon shavings and displayed them in the playroom windows.

We mailed Valentines to our friends and family. We then made special handprint Valentines for the grandparents.

Tomorrow he will wake up to a special heart shaped breakfast, get a little Valentine's gift from mom & dad, & we've got some special crafts and baking planned. What do you do to celebrate with your kids?

Caydenisms

2011-01-23T20:19:00.003-06:00

I have been wanting to start updating the blog on some of the funny things that Cayden has been saying/doing lately. He is at such a fun age and is constantly making us laugh. I wish I could bottle him up and forever remember this stage of his life. I at least want to attempt to write some things down!

We've taught him to say excuse me after he burps or relieves himself...umm, in some other way...uhummm. The other day, Collin burped and Cayden immediately says, "Scuse me, dada!"

He thinks that everything is either blue or red. You ask him what color something is and he says, "Red blue".

We sadly hit a milestone today - Cayden ate his first booger. I gagged.

Anytime we tell Cayden not to do something, he immediately deflects it onto Ace and starts going, "No, no, Ace!"

He is infatuated with the number 2. Maybe because we hyped up his 2nd birthday so much...I don't know. But everything is 2. We always count the buttons on his shirt when we're getting dressed, (when he's wearing a shirt with buttons) and there's always 2 buttons. Even when there's usually 4.

Anytime he smells anything, be it good or bad, he says "BU!" (he means PU) and starts swaying his hand back and forth in front of his face.

Cayden's favorite book right now is Barnyard Dance and he walks around reciting it all the time. He will say, "Baa, Moo...by two by two by two". The book goes, "With a baa and a moo and a cockadoodeldoo, everybody promenade two by two."

Cayden has discovered the joy of a good foot massage (thanks to my dad) and the other night when I was putting him to bed, I told him to roll over and I would rub his back. He immediately said, "Toes feet, toes feet!" and kicked his feet in the air motioning for me to rub them instead!

He is repeating everything, EVERYTHING that we say these days. About a month ago, Collin was changing his diaper and made the comment that his diaper had "a lot of peepee" in it. Cayden immediately started saying, "lotta peepee!" and then laughing hysterically. He thinks it's really funny to do this loudly in the grocery store.

There's so many other things but these are the first ones that popped in my mind. I'll have to start writing these things down as I remember them or as they happen because I don't want to forget!

Cayden's 2nd Birthday - a hoooooting good time!

2011-01-16T15:44:00.007-06:00

It's hard for me to believe that my baby is 2! I decided that since this is probably the last year that Cayd won't have an opinion about his party theme, I kept it sweet. He has the next several years to have super hero's, dinosaurs, and pirates! We did a "Look whoooo's turning 2!" theme and it turned out really cute.

I found an invitation that I loved and then based the colors and everything around that.

The owl cake pops that I made

Didn't the cake turn out so cute?!? The talented Shelley Clayton made it for us. I just sent her his invitation and she did a great job. You can get a glimpse of the invitation to the left.

I tried a new sugar cookie recipe and it was not good at all. The icing was gross, too. Moral of the story: Don't try a new recipe for your child's birthday party!!! What was I thinking?!?

Chocolate chip cookie cupcakes - not sure why we didn't get more pictures of the food because there was lots more. And not everything was sweet!

Cayden and his cute cousin Eden

My mom with baby Jillian

Busy playing

Gift time. I love that backpack. I am planning on him going to "school" two days a week next year so this backpack will be perfect. I'm hoping that I can convince him to start wearing it to church so that we can eliminate the need for a diaper bag. We'll see how that goes!

His favorite thing about opening gifts was probably this singing Mickey Mouse card!

This was daddy's favorite thing =)

I ordered his shirt from a girl on etsy that I order from all the time and it turned out really cute. It matched the theme perfectly.

He was much more interested in the cake this year than he was last year!

Cayden had a great time and by the end of the party, we were all pooped. Thanks to everyone who came and helped celebrate our sweet boys second year. You are so special to us!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cayden! We love you SO big!

Christmas 2010 in review...

2011-01-11T12:34:00.005-06:00

So now that it's already the middle of January I should probably update about Christmas - ha! I am nothing if not consistent :)

We had brunch at my parents on Christmas Eve Day and it was very nice. They let him open one of his gifts that day. It was a dog that laughs and rolls around.

It's actually really funny but Cayden wasn't sure what to think about it at the time.

We went to our church's Christmas Eve service that night. I could just eat him up in this picture. He was so excited. We let him open one gift (jammies) that night and then he decided that he liked the dog that DeeDee and PawPaw had given him that morning. Dogs are definitely more entertaining than jammies.

Collin and I set everything up after he went to bed and it was so much fun! My dad built Cayden this activity table for the playroom and Collin and I bought the chairs. I love the way it turned out! There is a roll of paper that connects to the end and you can roll it across the table. I found it in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog and just gave the picture to my dad and he built it. Awesome. We are so blessed by my dad who is so handy.

Christmas morning was so much fun. Cayden was confused about what was going on but was very excited nonetheless! After he saw the table and chairs in the playroom, he ran into the family room and immediately found his horse. Loved it.

It was a sweet morning for sure. Cayden got tons of things and it was so much fun watching him. I was COMPLETELY overwhelmed this year with the gift of a lifetime that I was definitely not expecting. I have some pictures of me opening that gift but I am ugly face crying so I will not scar you by posting those :) I will post more on this later but suffice it to say that I am blessed and extremely thankful.

It was a great day spent honoring the birth of our Savior and I hope the same is true for your family! A lot has happened since Christmas just a few short weeks ago, including my baby turning 2 (Agghhh!), so expect some blog updates soon. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from The Day Family!

2010-12-25T20:47:00.006-06:00

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9:6-7

*I ordered our card from Shutterfly this year and I just love how it turned out! Their site is so user friendly and they have adorable designs for every occasion!

A visit with Santa

2010-12-20T14:30:00.002-06:00

Last weekend, we went with the Simpson's to see Santa in downtown Fort Worth. This Santa was a good one - and it only cost $7 for a 4x6 picture and they also used our camera to take a picture. So I have a digital copy and can make as many copies as I want. Way more economical than going to the mall. Anyway - Cayden wasn't excited about the jolly old man and the only way we could get him not to cry was to be in the picture with him.

My two cuties. Don't you just love Cayden's hat?! I could just eat him up in this!

Posing in front of the giant Christmas Tree downtown.

The Simpson's posing in front of the giant tree downtown.

The kids had a blast hanging out downtown. We saw Santa, went to dinner, and then walked around and enjoyed the lights. I just love this time of year and all the fun it brings!

It's been lookin' a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-19T20:10:00.010-06:00

I would title this post, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas", but seeing as it's less than a week away, I think this title is more appropriate. Ha! I was really excited to decorate this year because Cayden is at such a fun age.

I got this sign at Chi Omega Christmas Market this year and I just love it!

I was also excited because I redid our tree to be more kid-friendly this year. Before, our tree was all gold and burgundy with poinsettas and while it was pretty, it wasn't much "fun". So, our tree is now full of red, lime green, white, and Christmas green. I collected things gradually over the year and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out!

I got these Jesus is the Reason for the Season ornaments from Cracker Barrell and I just adore them so much!

This Happy Birthday Jesus ornament came from Chi Omega Christmas Market and it just might be my favorite ornament on our tree.

Our family ornament this year.

Our sweet friend Theresa gave us this ornament last year because Cayden was Raggedy Andy for Halloween. I LOVE it - such a sweet reminder of that special memory of his first dress up day.

These are some of Cayden's first Christmas ornaments - he has three or four of them.

This is one of Cayden's ornaments from this year - I also found it at Chi Omega Christmas Market.

I had them write his name and the year on it.

I made these ornaments a few months ago. I painted our names on with paint pens. I made one for all of us but sadly, Cayden's broke last week. And it wasn't his fault! He's actually done really well and hasn't broken any ornaments.

Part of the reason that I think he has done so well with the tree is that there are ornaments on it that he knows are "his". There are these little pillows that are soft and cannot be broken along with several other types of ornaments that he can take off the tree and play with. It makes it easier to teach him that there are some ornaments that are off limits if he has some that he can play with!

I love this picture of Cayd that my sweet friend Stephanie took last year. His eyes are SO blue!

A picture on our mantle

Our stockings that my mom made. Mine she made me when I was little, Collin's she made him while we were engaged, and Cayden's she made while I was pregnant with him. I love them so much and will treasure them always.

Collin calls this his tacky Christmas sweater but I think it's sweet! It would be tacky if he were our age and wearing it, but for a 1 year old, I think it's adorable. I don't have too much longer to be able to dress him like this!

The advent calendar that I made that counts down the days until Christmas. Can hardly believe it's only 6 days!

I got this tree on sale at Cracker Barrell this year and Cayden loves it! It lights up and dances while singing Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. He smiles, gets excited, and dances everytime we turn it on. Cracks us up!

Some stuffed gingerbread people on top of the armoire in the playroom.

I saw someone selling these frames at the Chi Omega Christmas Market this year. I fell in love with them but they were a ridiculous price. I came home and made this one for about $5. It's not as cute as the ones I saw, but it was a whole lot cheaper and I think it turned out kind of cute. That reindeer I found at the Peddler show in Arlington.

This is a side table in our family room but I'm including it because this is where we keep Cayden's nativity and where we gather as a family to do advent.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year and I have loved having a more kid friendly looking home this season. Since I basically started over with all my decorating, I'm excited to expand on it and maybe get some cute stuff after the holiday's on sale!

My New Favorite Holiday Find

2010-12-17T23:55:00.004-06:00

So as I sit here awake at midnight, waiting for my NyQuil to kick in (I have an allergy attack that is trying to wreak havoc on my holiday plans!), I have to tell you about something that I recently discovered that I LOVE! My mother-in-law got me addicted to Williams Sonoma's Spiced Chestnut soap and I love to use in in the fall and throughout Christmas time. But this year, I decided to also pick up some Winter Forest hand & dish soap. I liked it in the store but I liked it even more when I got it home. It's kind of woodsy but not in a masculine way, in a kind of sweet way. It's heavenly... It makes me want to hand wash all my dishes. Well, not quite but it does make hand washing dishes seem like less of a chore.