15 Months

We went for Lainey's 15 month appointment last week. She is doing great and growing! She's a little more than 21 pounds (45%) and 31 inches (70%). Tall & skinny...there are worse problems to have!

The doctor was impressed with her vocabulary (she says 30 or so words) and said that is a direct link to intelligence. She is a smart little thing! She talks all the time and even strings short phrases together.

She's been wearing 18 month clothes for awhile now and just recently moved to size 4 diapers. We're still working on walking. She can do it (she started taking some steps on her own weekend before last!) but she still prefers to cruise or hold our hands. She'll get her confidence up though and will be walking all over soon enough. She's also still slowly growing some hair (which is still a strawberry blond).

Here are some pictures from a recent shopping trip (the girl loves to shop!). It started out fun...



She shopped til she dropped...



She then threw a little tantrum when we got home...



Such a cool girl...she likes her Barbie sunglasses. Or mine...

Snuggle with my Snoogle

Since I was off for the Columbus Day holiday, Lainey and I met my Mom at Southpoint to do some shopping. We had a great time and I got some more maternity clothes for work (like, nice ones…from a real maternity store and not Target or Old Navy!). While I was in the store, I also picked up this little number. Fun looking? Yes. Comfortable? Ooooh yes.

I think you're all aware of my super-cheap tendencies, which extended to all of my maternity purchases last time. When I was pregnant with Lainey, I just bought a regular old body pillow at Target and then later, a belly wedge. Those got me through the little aches and such I had that time around. Well, that wasn't going to cut it this go-round. My sciatica is so bad that my tailbone, back and hips just ache pretty much all the time. Every time I sit down, something pops and it's just generally uncomfortable. We have already purchased a new mattress to try to help alleviate my pain at night. And while it has helped, it just can't provide the support a bunch of pillows can. Sunday night I was awake in the middle of the night for about an hour and a half because of it. So I grabbed a regular pillow and put it between my legs. Then I grabbed a smaller pillow and shoved it under my belly. Then the body pillow was added to give me support behind my back. The next morning, Troy got up and went running and when he came back, he said he thought someone else had crawled in the bed with me at first. Let's just say, it's a good thing we have a king-size bed! So that's where the Snoogle comes into the picture. I told Troy I was going to look for one of those enormous maternity pillows. He looked a little frightened at first but then he glanced at the overstuffed bed and agreed.

Wow. Why didn't I get one of these the last time? I whipped that thing out last night and climbed into bed (really…I had to get over the thing!) and wound it around me and went right to sleep. I woke up some in the night but that was more because I had to go to the bathroom than anything else. It was so comfy! I think this morning was the first morning in a long time (um, maybe ever in this pregnancy) where I woke up feeling refreshed and okay with hitting the button on the alarm clock at 5:45 to get up.

Thank you Snoogle!

14 & 15 Weeks

Time keeps trucking along! Fall is proving to be pretty busy for us and even when we don't have every moment scheduled, we keep managing to find stuff to do because this time of year is just awesome. But...the update!

- Boobs are now huge again (for serious). But I can still kind of sleep on my stomach and I don't have to wear a sports bra all the time so there's that.
- Yes...the sleeping on my stomach is definitely going away as my belly gets larger.
- Oh the sciatica. I stepped wrong in Target today and it took my breath away. I've started sleeping with a pillow between my legs because I've heard that helps.
- I think I have have started to feel some little movements. Nothing strong obviously but just a little something a few times to let me know there's a person growing in there.
- Still favoring salty foods. Can you believe there is a red velvet cupcake in my fridge right now that's like 3 days old? And a bunch of cookies that have hardly been touched? But I thought about a pickle the other morning at 9:30 and my mouth started watering.
- I'm slowly easing into my maternity wear again. I actually haven't worn any maternity pants to work yet but I have to wear my belly band all the time. Shirts are a little tougher but there are still some I can get away with.

The baby is an apple this week. I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going! But 6 more weeks until our big ultrasound.

13 weeks

I went to the doctor yesterday and got to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Everything sounded good! Of course I had a little list of questions in my purse but when the doctor (finally) came in and asked if I had any questions, I cheerily exclaimed, "Nope!" Doh...I always do that. Oh well...it wasn't anything big deal. I got my flu shot while there and that was my main question so there's that. I was a little disappointed to learn that I go back in 4 weeks for another heartbeat check and then 4 weeks after that for my ultrasound. I was thinking that I would go back in like 5 weeks from now and they would do my ultrasound but I guess we have to wait 8 weeks to see this little peanut.

The quick update:
- Still feel good...about the same
- Of course I didn't get around to organizing my maternity clothes last weekend but this really needs to happen as I have less & less that I can wear
- Can still sleep on my stomach!
- My 92 year old grandmother and I both have sciatica
- Still the same tastes in food...could have soup every day for lunch and be happy
- The belly is growing! Definitely have a little bump now. A coworker even asked me the other day if I was pregnant just based on a glance at my belly. Which is a good thing but of course my first thought was, "Oh my gosh...I must look fat!" I think I have some issues.

12 Weeks

Last week of the first trimester! Then the fun "mester" can begin. :) Not that this one's been too bad...here's a recap of the past week:

- Still sleeping on my stomach! :)
- All sick feelings are gone.
- No real cravings...still prefer salty over sweet and not a huge fan of meat.
- I can still button a few pairs of pants but everything else gets the belly band.
- Wore a maternity top for the first time on Friday (because I feel like all my other tops right now just make me look fat, not pregnant...the worst part about the first trimester in my opinion!).

I'm looking forward to about a month from now. That is the most fun part...I'll actually look pregnant, we'll hopefully find out what we're having (you all know I like to plan for stuff) and I should start to feel the baby moving. But all in all, things are good! I, for one, am enjoying the recent change in the weather. I think it's the perfect time to transition to my maternity clothes so my goal for today is to get them out and readily accessible in the closet and bedroom. Oh, and the baby this week is a lime.

The joke's on us!

I feel like I'm always apologizing for my absence on here lately. But this time, it was because I had big news to share but just couldn't share it yet. Yup, you guessed it...Baby #2! Our due date is tentatively April 1st...or April Fool's Day. ;) That doesn't bother me because I know some lovely people born on that date. Also, when I went for my first real doctor's appointment, she had me measuring about 4 days earlier than that so I think we're looking at the end of March. But either way, holy cow, we're having another baby!

In case you, like me, are not great at math (especially trying to count backwards), that puts me at a little over 11 weeks along. This pregnancy has been very different than with Lainey (which Troy of course is taking to mean it's a boy but we'll see!). With Lainey, I instantly had sore boobs and lived in a bra 24/7 and couldn't sleep on my stomach. This time, no soreness in my chestal region (which Troy attributes to them being "broken in" now...he's probably right. Poor boobs.). I also did have some nausea and I never had that with Lainey. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad and has pretty much passed now. And probably a good thing, I have not been craving sweets or ice cream. Instead, I want salty foods and oddly enough, I could have a salad with every meal. I even fixed one at 10:00 the other night and Troy just shook his head. Hey, it could be worse, right?? Basically, if I could have Olive Garden's soup, salad and bread sticks every day, I would be one happy preggo.

This past week I went back and read the blogs of some friends who have had a second child and it was kind of fun to read about their pregnancies the second time around. Since this time I have a nice layer of padding around my middle, plus my uterus decided to instantly gain about 5 pounds, I'm already wearing my belly band and imagine my full maternity wear won't be too far off.

The baby is already about the size of a fig and my next doctor's appointment is in about 2 weeks. We have one little ultrasound and could see the flutter of Baby #2's little heart. We're really excited and obviously a little nervous since Lainey will be about 20 months when this next one comes along! Good thing she is such a good baby. Especially since everyone tells us that this next one will probably be quite the handful just because that's the way things go. I guess time will tell! And I'll be sure to keep you posted. I'm going to make an effort to be much better about blogging to document this pregnancy. For reals...I know I always say that. But I really will try.

Now...I think it's time to go fix a salad...

What a difference a year makes

I am a total slacker at this blog and I apologize. Lainey turned one on July 21st and I am just now getting around to posting about it! Here are the stats...weight: 20 lbs, 4.5 oz (45%), height: um, yeah...I can't remember but I know it was 70%. "Tall & skinny!" the doctor proclaimed when she walked in. Everything else was of course fine and she is healthy and developing just perfectly.

The Saturday after her actual birthday, we went and had professional pictures done at UNC's campus. We should be getting the proofs soon and I can't wait to see them! Although it was about a million degrees at 9:00 a.m. so we'll probably all look extra shiny.

Later that day, we had her birthday party. I thought it turned out really well! We resisted the urge to go overboard and invited friends & family over for some burgers & dogs...and cake of course! After polling FB, I ordered the cakes from Harris Teeter and was very pleased. Apparently if you order for your one year old when you're still pregnant, you can get the little "patty cake" for free. I did not plan so well in advance so I just paid the $6 for it. And it was worth it because she loved it!! Mostly the icing...she was peeling off handfuls of it and stuffing it in her mouth. But hopefully someone got some cute pics and will actually pass them along (???).



We had a good crowd though and it was really nice because all 3 of Lainey's great grandmothers (2 of them getting ready to turn 92!) were able to be here for it.



So what has Lainey been up to lately? Generally being cute & sweet and doing all of her "tricks." She still likes to do animal noises and she babbles all the time. She is quite adept at cellphone usage and can navigate her Aunt Lala's iPhone without issue. Her new thing is texting...she gets my phone and does those little thumbs. Ah, they grow up so fast these days!

We transitioned to milk & sippy cups only without issue which I was pleasantly surprised about! We'd been giving her water in a cippy cup for awhile now and for the last two weeks before she turned one, we made her last bottle of the day half with whole milk. Since she did fine, the doctor recommended just going cold turkey to all milk and no bottles. So we did and she seems perfectly happy with that!



She's also getting better & better at signing. She picks them up so quickly now! I showed her the sign for "sleep" just once and she now does that when I ask if she's sleepy. Not that it isn't obvious though because she will come over to me and lay her head in my lap or get the blanket off the couch and rub it on her face. :) So sweet! She also signs "more" and "hungry" and "please." The other day, I fed her lunch and then ate my own. We had similar lunches except that she had lima beans while I was having leftover mashed potatoes. She was really acting like she wanted my potatoes so I let her have a bite. Well, then she starts emphatically leaning over and going "uh! uh!" so I said, "What do you say?" and she signed "more" & "please" back-to-back. So obviously I had to give her all my potatoes because it was just so cute. The best was when I said, "That's right. More please!" and she signed "more" again and then said "eeese!" That kid sure is cute. Not that she isn't fully aware of that fact! :)



She's also getting a ton of teeth (at least 3 up top) and growing some more hair. It's a little slow to come in, but there are funny long strands now and the back is filling in nicely.



I can't believe she's already one. I must say, it's been a pretty awesome year! My only complaint is not getting to spend enough time with Troy & Lainey but maybe one day our schedules will slow down a little more to allow us more family time. For now, I'm just enjoying what I've got! :)