18 Weeks, 20 Weeks, and Why I'm Not Posting Much

Our laptop and our desktop computer are both essentially dead.  Naturally, this makes it very difficult for me to post updates since I don't have a computer at home.  Maybe someday I will once again have access to a computer where I can upload photos.  When that time comes around, I can come back into these pregnancy update posts and add my belly shots.  Until then, you will have to be satisfied with sad, picture-less posts and frequently no posts at all.  It's too bad, because I have some really cute pics of Davis that I've been wanting to post and talk about the related things we've been doing. Since it's been nearly 5 weeks since I've posted, I had to at least find a way to update you on how this pregnancy is going.  It is good, uneventful so far.  As of Friday, December 6, you can now feel the baby's movements when you put a hand on my abdomen, which is exciting!  At 18 weeks, we had our ultrasound/anatomy scan.  This one always makes me hold my breath, but good news!  There were no concerns with baby's growth or development.  Everything appears to be progressing normally. Here are baby's stats for 18w1d gestation: heartrate: 155 beats per minute weight: 9 ounces measuring: 18w3d (2 days ahead of schedule) For comparison purposes for those who are interested , we didn't have this ultrasound until 20w5d with Davis, and his stats at that time were 144 bpm, 14 oz, 3 days ahead of schedule. Perhaps since this baby was only 18 weeks for the ultrasound, our ultrasound pictures didn't turn out to be much of anything this time.  So don't worry, you're not missing out by my not being able to post those pictures here.  We got a couple of alien face shots and very blurry profiles.  It was fun being able to take Davis to the ultrasound, though.  I am still not sure how much he understands, but we talked about how we were going to look at the baby inside Mommy's tummy and he paid attention to the screen during the ultrasound and afterwards looked at the printed strip of pictures they gave us, pointing to each picture and saying, "Baby, baby, baby, baby!" The only other thing that my doctor noted was that my placenta is low-lying.  She said that many times as it grows it will grow upwards.  It is just something that we will continue to keep an eye on as the pregnancy moves forward in case it develops into placenta previa.  But again, she is not concerned at this point. Davis still talks about the baby from time to time.  He has started lifting my shirt to "kiss the baby" and always follows it up by blowing a raspberry on my stomach.  :) We recently have had some major wallpaper removal and painting done inside our house, and I am anxious to start getting everything back to its rightful place so that I can set up Davis' new big boy bedroom.  He will be transitioning to a twin bed in a new, larger bedroom and his current room and crib will be used for the new baby, but of course we want to make that change early enough that he doesn't have any negative association with the baby taking his room/crib. We had a nice Thanksgiving in Missouri with Greg's family.  When Davis talks about it, he sums up the visit this way: "Had deminems (M&Ms) Grandma's house, had cookies Grandma's house, had dinnertime Grandma's house."  Haha!  Someday I'll do a post with some of the cute things he's been saying lately.  Of course I'm a little biased and everything that comes out of his mouth is adorable to me! We are definitely looking forward to Christmas.  Davis is enamored by Christmas trees and has finally developed a recognition of Santa.  We visited Santa last night and Davis was very excited about it.  When it was our turn, though, he became suddenly shy.  Slowly, he advanced towards Santa, then stopped a safe distance away and said, "I want presents."  He's not particular.  :)  So while we didn't get any awesome pictures on Santa's lap, Davis was thrilled with the candy cane (or "candy cone" as he kept calling it) that Santa gave him and it was definitely an improvement from last year's crying!

From Loving the Life We Live

16 Weeks (and one day)

It is possible that I may not be as prompt and frequent in my posts about this pregnancy as I was when I was pregnant with Davis.  Running around after a toddler somehow makes it harder to remember to document this journey and write blog posts.  Second child syndrome begins early, I guess!  But I will do my best to mend the error of my ways and will attempt to do bi-weekly updates.  If I fail in this task, please promise that you will look tactfully aside and pretend not to notice.  Never let it be said that I am not just as excited about Baby #2 as I was Baby #1.  I just happen to have less time on my hands. So the question becomes - what the heck did I blog about when I was pregnant with Davis?  I had to look back in my blog archives from 2010 and will try to do the same kind of update. Frequently Asked Questions When are you due? Sunday, April 27 is the big day if you feel the urge to circle it on your calendar. Are you going to find out if it's a boy or a girl this time? / Do you have names picked out? Once again, no.  Sorry, Grandma.  ;)  And no, we haven't really worked on names yet and won't be revealing those choices either.  Remember, we didn't have a boy name decided upon when we went to the hospital for Davis to be born.  I expect it will be the same way - we'll have a good idea of what our name options are, but nothing set in stone until we meet our little one. How have you been feeling? I have been feeling pretty well.  There were some rough weeks there in the first trimester, of course.  I mostly just had evening sickness, where I felt super yucky from dinnertime until bedtime and just wanted to lie around and feel sorry for myself.  Davis watched more TV than I care to admit some days because of my general feeling-yucky-ness, but at least my part-time work schedule meant I got to take naps most afternoons.  I successfully employed the mind over matter technique again and only actually "got sick" on three different occasions during this pregnancy.  The trash, dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and toddler urine and poo were the main offenders.  I wasn't too sick with Davis, either, so I guess I have really lucked out.  I can't complain too much, but I'm still glad that the first trimester is behind me.  I really hope everything goes well with this pregnancy and this baby so that I never have to be first trimester pregnant again (as well as the more obvious reasons!).  Ugh. Are you going to have another C-section? That's a conversation that I will have with my doctor in April.  The circumstances that led to the decision for a C-section may not reoccur with this pregnancy.  We will see how things look as the due date approaches and make an informed decision about whether a VBAC or repeat C-section would be the best choice for both mom and baby.  At this point, I am not opposed to either and neither is my doctor. Have you felt the baby move yet? I swear that I have felt movement since around 9 weeks, and most definitely since 12 weeks on a regular basis.  It seems impossible to feel it so early, but it was really like something was tickling me from the inside, and I could feel it squirming around in there, always in the same location.   My doctor appointment at 13 weeks (which freaked me out because they couldn't find the heartbeat with the Doppler and had to do an ultrasound) confirmed that the baby was nestled right down in that very location, and my doctor agreed that it was entirely possible to feel the baby move, even that early, with a subsequent pregnancy.  Yesterday, right at 16 weeks, I first felt a different movement that was more like the bubbling feeling I got the very first time I felt Davis move (at 16 weeks). Have you told Davis? / What does Davis think about this? I've said little things here and there, but he has been pretty oblivious to the whole thing . . . until yesterday.  I have my first "big brother" stories to share and they just melt my heart.  Last night we were playing, kind of rough-housing like an active 2-year-old boy likes to do, and I cautioned him to watch out and be careful not to kick Mommy's tummy because, as I said, "there is a tiny baby in Mommy's tummy trying to grow."  I thought it would go in one ear and out the other, but Davis stopped, looked me in the eyes, put his hand on my stomach, and said, "That baby?"  (as in, that's a baby?)  I'm pretty sure that I turned into a pile of mush, it was such a sweet moment.  A little while later, he started looking down my shirt collar saying things like, "Hey, where baby go?  I can't see baby."  It was so precious I can't even stand it.  This morning at the babysitter, they were talking about what they are thankful for while making a Thanksgiving craft.  The babysitter named off what she is thankful for and then asked Davis what he is thankful for, to which he answered, "my mommy baby."  Awww!  Then tonight, we talked a little more about it.  He said something about Mommy's baby, so I asked him where the baby is.  He pointed to my knee first and I laughed and said, "Nooo, the baby's not in my knee."  So he pointed to my stomach, and then he wanted to look at my stomach and talk about the baby.  I asked if he could kiss the baby and he leaned in and nuzzled his face into my stomach while giving it a BIG kiss.  I am so excited to give Davis a little brother or little sister to love and grow up with, and I think I will enjoy seeing this pregnancy unfold through his eyes. And as a side note, I am already huge (for only 16 weeks, anyway).  It was next to impossible to conceal this pregnancy until after the first trimester, so nobody was really surprised at the news.  I am at that fun in-between point where only a few of my regular shirts will fit, but my maternity shirts make me look like a whale.  The good news is that I can still button my jeans (thank you, low rise), but I don't think that will last for long!

From Loving the Life We Live

Loving our Life as a Family of . . .

. . . Three FOUR! We are pleased to announce that we are expecting a new addition to our family around April 27.  Please pray with us for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.  We are very excited about the prospect of becoming a family of four!

From Loving the Life We Live

A Documentary in Pictures: Family Photo Attempt

From Loving the Life We Live

A ROARing Good Time

Davis really got into the spirit of Halloween this year.  He was all about wearing his Halloween costume around the house and a real pro at trick-or-treating and candy eating.  We did a trick-or-treat event in the park and also went up and down our street a little bit.  It was so cute to hear him say "trick or treat" and "thank you."  He was not too interested in helping with pumpkin carving, but he loved to pull off the "hat" while saying, "Happy Halloween!"  I think Davis would like every day to be Halloween!

From Loving the Life We Live

Fantastic Fall Weekend

This past weekend was absolutely the perfect fall weekend.  The weather was gorgeous (a nice change from the super-rainy preceding weekend) and we took full advantage of it!  Four amazing fall activities made it the "funnest" weekend we've had in quite awhile. 1. Beasley's Orchard This local orchard, which we have passed many times but never visited, was having its Heartland Apple Festival and we thought it would be a perfect time to check it out.  Davis enjoys nothing more than climbing and jumping, so he loved playing on the giant mountain of straw bales.  There was also a "sandbox" full of corn kernels to play in and plenty of pumpkins and apples to see. 2. Nehemiah Ranch Fall Harvest Days I've read a couple of articles in the local paper about this place, which happens to be less than 5 minutes from our house.  It's a privately owned 30+ acre wooded property that the owner wanted to make available for the community to use for the glory of God.  We went to the Nehemiah Ranch in the evening as it was getting dark.  There was a barn (which Davis called the EIEIO House), a bonfire, hot dogs to roast, s'mores to make, hayrides, and a pumpkin patch - all FREE (freewill donation optional).  We had a BLAST!!  There were some mechanical difficulties with one of the tractors for the hayride dying, so we had to wait in line for longer than usual, which actually turned out for the best because it was the most awesome hayride ever and was even more awesome being in the dark.  Seriously, as Greg said, "THIS is what I call a hayride."  It was a long hayride, on narrow twisting paths through the woods, where you sometimes had to duck for branches and at one point half the people had to get out for a minute because we got stuck on a rickety little bridge and the tractor couldn't pull us over (so a few of us unloaded and then got back on after the tractor and trailer made it across).  Also, the moon was really cool that night with wispy clouds going over it, so it made it kind of eerie and extra fun.  It was Davis' first hayride; I think his favorite part was the moon behind the clouds (like in one of his favorite bedtime books).  We ended at the pumpkin patch where we rooted around in the dark for a free pumpkin for Davis.  He was so proud of carrying that pumpkin!  Seriously, this was so much fun that we can't stop talking about it and I think that everyone we know in the area (especially with kids) should go!  on the hayride we think this one looks like a senior picture . . . maybe we should make him reenact it when he's 17 3. Eagle Creek State Park It's shocking considering that we live so close to it, but we had actually never gone to Eagle Creek State Park.  We went to enjoy some nature time and it was beautiful and fun.  Davis threw lots of rocks into the little lake.  We went on a hike and saw a really cool old sycamore tree that had a huge hole all the way through it and was hollow all the way to the top.  And of course we found a playground to enjoy, too.  In case you're wondering, the fall pictures in my previous post "Autumn" were taken here.  throwing rocks into the water  the cool tree  looking up from the inside bottom of the tree up to the top Davis wanted to climb the steps by himself, sternly ordering us to "stay here!" 4. Fall Festival @ local church A local church had a free fall festival for the community on Sunday night, with a cookout, balloons, bouncy houses, hayrides, "train" rides, games, and hot air balloon rides.  This was another chance to have a fantastic time and soak up the final moments of an especially fun fall weekend.

From Loving the Life We Live

Autumn

So . . . several people have called it to my attention that I haven't posted anything in over two months.  Oops.  Life happens, I guess.  My last post was called Summertime, so it's only fitting that this one be named Autumn.  I have a lot of pictures and stories to share and hope to find time to bring it all together very soon.  In the meantime, here's a taste of some of the autumn glory we enjoyed this past weekend.

From Loving the Life We Live

Summertime

Some days lately I look at Davis and it strikes me all of a sudden what a "big boy" he is getting to be.  I love him more each day. We have been enjoying the mild weather and spending our mornings playing at different local parks.  Davis is becoming very independent, always saying "no, do it self" and "go away, Mommy. stay there."  So while he plays on the playground, I am often required to stay far enough way that he does not feel smothered by my presence.  :)  He likes to feel like one of the big kids. One night at bedtime I was tickling him around his chest and back under his pajama shirt and he was giggling and having so much fun.  When I stopped, he pulled up the front of his shirt and said, "peez, Mommy, more tickle shirt."  Aww, of course you can have more "tickle shirt," little buddy. Davis got some little toy minions (from Despicable Me 2) at McDonald's, which unfortunately I can no longer find.  But he was so cute when he wanted to play with them one day and went upstairs to look saying, "Meen-yuns!  Meen-yuns, where-are you?"  On a somewhat related note, we were driving past a McDonald's yesterday and Davis said, "French fries."  Okay, I have to put a disclaimer here and say he's only ever been there to eat a handful of times.  Apparently it doesn't take much to recognize those golden arches and what they mean. When we go to a gas station now, Davis will say, "want gas too, peez."  This started after we got some fountain drinks from a gas station once or twice and I let Davis sip a little of my lemonade.  I am trying to explain to him that gas isn't what we are drinking, and we don't always get drinks when we put gas in the car. Our kiddo who used to enjoy baths and was sometimes hard to pry OUT of the bathtub is now terrified of all water, including the bathtub.  He somehow associates it with boo-boos and getting hurt.  I think he had a slight skinned knee one time and freaked out when we went to put him in the tub, and he continues to panic about baths.  He doesn't want to get in the water and, if you force him in there, he cries so pathetically and says, "owie, I got boo-boo, hurt me knee," etc.  This has been going on for at least a month and I am so hoping that he outgrows it soon.  This morning, though, we went to a birthday party and Davis, though wary at first played with the water and rocks in a little stream and eventually warmed up enough to play in the splash pad, voluntarily putting his head in the water and even running through the streams of water.  He was laughing and saying "got wet" and thought it was fun, so hopefully he'll soon realize that water isn't going to hurt him and that it's fun to play in AND bathe in.  :)  a couple of pics from the local waterpark He has an awesome memory, which probably means he's going to get all sorts of complexes.  At the park yesterday he didn't get off the curly tube slide after he went down and tried to climb back up despite my yelling at him from the top to get off the slide.  I finally went down to get him out of the slide and in the meantime another kid came down and ran into him, which of course made him cry.  So today the birthday boy wanted to go down the slide and Davis said "no, my turn!" and got upset when the other boy came down the slide shortly after Davis.  Davis grabbed his head and said, "ow, hurt me head" even though he didn't get run into at all.  He's just remembering that one brief incident and now apparently projecting it on all other slides.   Sigh.  He is also showing all the makings of a first-class tattletale. A couple of weeks ago we went up to visit Grammy and Grandad and went to Indiana Beach, the local amusement park, with them and again later on with some friends.  Besides carousels, this was Davis' first experience with carnival rides, and he loved them!  The first one he went on was a bunch of little fire trucks and other vehicles just going around in a circle.  Davis was very patient sitting there waiting for the ride to start.  As soon as he reached out and grabbed the steering wheel in front of him, the ride started to go!  He had the most surprised look on his face.  I really think that he thought he made the ride go.  He was very serious about holding that steering wheel at just the proper angle to continue going left around the circle.  Someone certainly had to steer that thing!  He has the makings of a fine driver someday  :) conked out after a busy morning at Indiana Beach Last weekend, we went out to Saint Louis to visit some friends.  Davis had a fantastic time playing with different friends at their homes, at the park, and even visiting the zoo.  We have also been having lots of playdates, have made several trips to the water park (Davis likes to people-watch, but not the water part!  When we go on the lazy river, he clings tightly to Mommy with his face buried in my chest), visited the county fair and saw the animals, and Davis went to his first movie in the theater (Monsters University).  showing off his cute tummy  Davis calls this his yee-haw hat - a gift from Grandma and Grandpa from a July trip to Texas We have certainly had a busy and fun summer!

From Loving the Life We Live