26 & 1/2 weeks!

It seems my posts don't quite line up exactly with each new 'week' of pregnancy they seem to fall more in the middle! oh well, better than nothing! ;-)

On Tuesday we were 26 weeks and I had the pleasure of going to the doctor for the fun glucose test! Yucko! It was the same gross orange stuff I remember. I felt pretty miserable the rest of the day after drinking that stuff. Here's hoping I passed!   No phone call as of Friday so I think we are in the clear!!

I can't remember when the every 2 week appointments start. It's either after our 28 week appointment or not until after our 32 week appointment. Either way its hard to believe that its just around the corner! It's hard to believe we have less than 100 days to go but we do! I am excited to see how things go with #2. With Abigail, I KNEW it was coming. At work on a Friday, I told them I didn't have much time left that it was going to be soon and they all laughed because it was my first and I still had 2 weeks to go and well - momma was right. Abigail came on Monday!

I am starting to feel a lot larger these days. There are days things go smoothly and days I feel like I can't breathe. I think I am going to have to switch up meal times to several smaller meals rather than 3 normal ones. I also seem to make it through the day having not had enough to drink so then evening time rolls around and I am trying to drink lots of water, well.....then I just feel like I drank a gallon of water and that's not terribly comfortable given there isn't much room in there anymore! So, I should probably work on spacing that out too!

I've decided its time to break out the pregnancy pillow again. Only, I can't find the pillow case for it, I had it a few weeks ago and my pregnancy brain put it somewhere but didn't save that info! So, I ordered another one. In the meantime, Jack (and Abigail) have been happy to snuggle up with the pillow sitting on the floor until the cover arrives.

We have so much going on for the fall that I'm not sure when we are going to have time to get the baby's room ready. However, I can say I am much more relaxed about having things ready this time around. I know that no matter if his room is ready or not, he won't know and it will all work out just fine. Yes, I'm sure my nesting will start soon enough and I'll start panicking! ;-)

This pregnancy has been a lot different from Abigail's. It has been a bit harder to get attached to this pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I am attached, but I feel more distant than I did with Abigail. I think that's what a few bumps in the pregnancy road will do to you. You realize that bad things can and do happen even when you don't expect it. So once that wonderful baby boy is in my arms I'll be one happy momma.


Our exciting news of the week - We finally picked a name! Matt and I went to a friends wedding down in VA Beach and the drive was a bit longer than we would have liked so it gave us a few extra hours to work on a name. It actually didn't take us long at all. The plan for now is to keep it a secret. As we get closer I may let a few letters slip out here and there and see if anyone can come up with it. We have asked Abigail if she can say the name and she can but we have not specifically told her that it is going to be the baby's name. Matt and I were discussing it the other day and we aren't sure if we should teach it to her or not. We know that if we do, she will share it with everyone but at the same time, we are thinking it might help her transition to having a baby brother if she knows the name and can start referring to him by name instead of just baby or "baby jack" as he seems to often be called.

I do think (fingers crossed) that she is going to do okay with this transition. She is getting more and more excited about baby brother and is routinely asking to hold him. The morning of my doctors appointment I told her I was going to the doctor and she was going to stay with daddy for a bit and she asked if I was going to get the baby out of my tummy so she could hold him. It was so cute!! Kids really do come up with the funniest things.


This week Abigail and I went with some friends and took a trip to the B & O Railroad Museum up in Baltimore. It really is a neat place, a bit on the pricey side but the kids enjoyed it. The moms would have enjoyed a bit more air conditioning but we survived!

I think we can (almost) say that Abigail's big girl room is complete! I finally got the rest of the decorations and we put them up yesterday. She was super excited about her princesses and made sure to give them all a hug and kiss goodnight. Love that kid!

We had a fun family day today just the 3 of us, which was super nice. We do a lot of stuff together but not usually just us 3 so it was a fun day. We headed to Dulles Expo for the train and toy show, which wasn't quite as much fun as I was hoping but it was something to do. I learned 2 things - 1. train collectors / train enthusiasts stink, literally. Maybe its just my heightened sense of smell because I'm pregnant but man there were too many people there that forgot to shower this morning! 2. When baby boy wants to go to the train show he and daddy will get to go and mommy will stay home, trains just aren't my thing! Of course I enjoyed watching Abigail have a good time but I'm a girl, what else can I say.

This afternoon we decided to try taking Abigail to her first movie. It was a risk for sure, given that she refused to nap today. I felt fairly confident she would either fall asleep or have a meltdown of some kind in the theater. She did neither and had a super time. It was just too cute to see her sitting there cheering and giggling. She made it through the whole movie and was better behaved than several older children sitting behind us. Go Abigail!

Abigail & Daddy at the train show. 

This train was much closer to Abigail's level so she enjoyed being close to the action

Our excited train face! 

Go Redskins!!!  whoops, no Ravens trains at the train show. 

26 1/2 weeks 

Abigail at the B&O Museum

Riding the choo choo! 

Our first Carousel ride! 

FINALLY our decorations have arrived

Abigail & her princesses! 

Such my little ham! 

2 weeks in a row!

Someone, please give me a medal! ;-) Kidding, kidding. But everyone should be impressed that I am writing 2 weeks in a row!

Seems like these days are filled with lots of appointments for the baby and fun playdates for Abigail, which leaves very little time for mommy to do much for herself, let alone make dinner! We had our 24 week appointment this week (a little late) and everything seems right on track. I go next week for the always FUN and exciting glucose test! Here's hoping we pass! I'm really just hoping they have a better flavor than the orange stuff I had with Abigail. I don't remember it to be as horrible as everyone had made it sound but a fruit punch flavor would be a bit nicer than that orange gunk! So we'll see. Then we have our 28 week appt just 2 weeks after that and another follow up sonogram soon after that. I must say I do enjoy getting to see the little one on the big screen!

With our next sonogram I'm going to ask if they do 3D sonograms. I think they do but I don't know how much it will cost. Insurance doesn't like to pay for unnecessary things! So far this pregnancy has been completely different than Abigail's. Of course there was the 100% difference in morning sickness, not a big fan of that change but movement is totally different and so much more fun! This boy is constantly moving. A lot of it I can still only feel internally but there are times when you can watch the belly bounce and that is so very entertaining! We have yet to get Abigail to feel it and I can only imagine what her response is going to be. She is getting very excited. She talks to the baby and tells him good morning / goodnight etc and gives him lots of hugs and kisses. This week she wanted him to come out so she could hold him. We told her he still needed to grow a bit more and she seemed to understand. Sometimes just "seeing" my belly without my shirt pulled down is enough for her to have "seen" the baby. I think (fingers crossed!) she is going to do okay with this transition. Of course everything seems fine now because there is no baby stealing her attention so when the real deal happens that may all change.

I was trying to compare abigail's 24/25 week picture with the one we took the other day and I think they are fairly similar belly size, which seems impossible because I FEEL so much bigger this time around than I did with Abigail. I have certainly already had several "I can't breathe" moments because everything is just mashed together. Also, since I am "blessed" :-(  with a much larger top than most, the top and the belly seem to be having a competition on who can get bigger faster. Not my favorite game, not my favorite game at all.

Abigail is still doing well in her new room. I think the rest of her decorations should arrive today and then we will be done. She went through about a week of waking in the middle of the night after a week of doing great but we seem to be back on track now with 2 solid nights of sleep.

Potty training is still our major project of the summer / fall. She had been doing great but over the past week or so has had some minor set backs. I really think she gets so caught up in whatever she is doing that she forgets about having to go to the bathroom until it is almost too late. So we have had to do a few clothing changes but I wouldn't call them total accidents as she will still go in the potty when they happen so mom may just need to be better about forcing potty breaks every 2 hours. Its a process and I think she's really doing pretty well.

Our next project is going to be baby boys room and baby boys name! Matt and I are having quite a difficult time coming up with a name. Girls names were easy. There were ones we liked and didn't like and even the likes there were not that many so it was fairly easy. Boys names are HARD. I have a problem with name associations and if a name triggers something its a big NO, and I have a lot of NO's. We are working on it and I think we will be there soon. We haven't decided if we are going to share the name yet or not. The biggest reason I don't like sharing the name ahead of time is that it leaves time for people to give you their opinion and while some people have nice things to say, others give you the negative feedback that you just don't want, so I'd rather have him named and then well there is no reason for your negative opinion because its done! :-) Just my thoughts.

Since the baby will be taking over Abigail's former room, which is extremely pink, it needs to be painted. But other than that we have most everything else. Just need some new curtains and we should be good to go. I picked out bedding a while back so we have all of that ready to be put in just need the painting done and we can start loading it up. It is exciting to think that we are on the down hill side of things. I keep saying, I just don't know if I remember how to take care of a baby! It seems so long ago. I am starting to get a bit nervous that it is going to be quite difficult to handle 2 little ones ALL BY MYSELF during the day. Hopefully these 2 will be similar in their baby tendencies. Abigail was a pretty easy baby once she started to get the feeding thing so I am HOPING this little guy will be just as nice to mommy and daddy! Only time will tell.......  15 more weeks..... give or take! I'm hoping give!!! Mommy realllllly does not want to be in the hospital on Thanksgiving! I'm thinking anytime after the 2nd week in November will work just fine! :-)

All smiles before our berry picking adventure

She can be such the little flirt! 

There's a baby in mommy's belly! 

Kisses for baby brother! 

Fun at the Montgomery County Fair

Abigail loves the animals

She also loved the rides! Daddy got to go as mommy was banned! 

Captain Abigail! She really enjoyed the helicopter ride. They even had controls inside to make them go faster or slower! 

Summer 2013!

It has been a while, yet again, I think I may have to give up on the blogging. Life is so busy! You would think a stay at home mom would have all the time in the world, right?? Wrong! Very, very wrong!  At least I don't feel like I have much time.

Well, another busy summer has almost come and gone. It has been super fun! Our major accomplishment of the summer is Potty Training! WOOOOO!! So very, very proud of my little girl. We have the occasional "accident" but overall I think I would give this kid an A+.  We spent 3 days doing the no diaper, stick close to home trick and it worked like a charm! We have been diaper free for almost a month now! I think she is enjoying the freedom of not having to wear diapers and picking out her big girl undies every morning!

Another fun for Abigail but hard transition for mommy has been to our "big girl room." Matt got everything we needed done in our master bedroom / bathroom renovation to move us back into our room so we could redo the guest room, which will now be the big girl room for Abigail! It has turned out 110% better than I imagined and it's not quite done yet. We are still waiting on a few decorations to put up on the walls and then we will be good to go. She has been sleeping in there for almost a week now and is doing great! It has been a much more traumatic change for mommy than Abigail. The hormones are certainly taking over!

Abigail's vocabulary continues to amaze everyone. I don't know how or why I was so worried. Her vocabulary has exploded and really nothing that she says isn't coming out in full sentences. I am beginning to think its time to really push a 2nd language. They truly are sponges!

We have reached 24 weeks! We have had several ultrasounds along the way to make sure everything is going well and we are please to report that things look great! In case you hadn't heard its a BOY! :-) We are super super excited that we are having a boy! Abigail is beginning to notice how much bigger mom's belly is getting these days. Each day she has to give the baby a hug and a kiss. It is so very very cute! This little boy is already shaping up to be one active kid! I am constantly feeling him move about, which is of course fantastic except for maybe when it wakes me up at 3 am. Even then, I'll still take it! We just had a sonogram the other day and he is already weighing in between 1.5 - 2 lbs. and we still have 16 weeks to go! I'm thinking he may be a tad bit bigger than his 5lb 3 oz sister!?!?!

The fall & holidays are certainly going to be busy this year! We have lots of fun things planned. I'm even hoping we can figure out a mini vacation for the 3 of us before baby boy arrives. Daddy has been super busy at work and hasn't been able to take much time off so we are hoping we can squeeze something in before summer is really gone!

Our next home project will be to tackle baby boy's room. Since Abigail had a nice pink room, we will have to do some major painting to get things ready for a baby boy. We have a little time but of course I hate to procrastinate so I'd rather get it done sooner than later.

Early Summer Fun 

HI Mommy! 

A failed trip to the zoo.....it was too hot and toooo crowded! 

Getting ready for the Summer BBQ

The kiddos had so much fun playing

The pools were a big hit! 

FUN! 

BBQ lunch with Daddy! 

Telling everyone we are having a baby! 

Headed to the beach for 4th of July

She's so stinking cute!

Abigail LOVES other kids. These boys were good sports about hanging out with her 

Driving the boat with daddy

Waiting on the fireworks

Our first trip to the beach! She LOVED the sand! 

We took a trip down to see the water.....it was pretty cold! 

Quick snooze on the beach with daddy

Water and sand together in a bucket! Life doesn't get much better than that! 

Showing mommy her big muscles

Such a ham

Evening trip to the park with daddy on a lovely summer day

Look a those beautiful blue eyes! 

Splash park fun for Carter's Birthday! 

Playing with our friends 

Such cuties! 

These kids are big dancers, they love music and dancing! 

Dancing with daddy

There are oh so many other pictures! Many are on my phone, which make it hard to transition over to the blog, well maybe not hard but time consuming and it usually doesn't work for me! But I think you can see we have had some great times this summer.

Abigail and I keep very busy with our great group of mommy friends. We have lots of fun adventures to new and exciting places and the park of course is always a hit. The kids have so much fun together and we are finally reaching the stage where they play somewhat independently and the mommy's can sit and chat, which is of course mommy heaven!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! 2013 has shaped up to be a fantastic year!