Baby #2: Pregnancy up to week 13

13 Weeks! (today April 1st)

Baby's Growth:
-Baby is as big as a peach
-forming vocal cords and teeth 
-already has fingerprints.
-intestines are moving from the umbilical cord to their more permanent place, in the tummy.

Symptoms:
Name a pregnancy symptom and I am pretty sure I have already had it. Lillian was such an easy pregnancy. This one hasn't been difficult but it has definitely been different. I won't go into all the details but here are a few I have experienced.
1. Tired: I have definitely had my tired days. I didn't think I would feel so tired since this pregnancy I'm not working and I'm home everyday but I still have my occasional naps here in there while Lillian is napping. I wake up a lot in the middle of the night and sometimes will be up for 2 hours before finally falling back asleep.
2. Nausea: the Nausea didn't really start until mid way through week 7. It was not terrible enough to need medicine but it is a little worse than with Lillian. I don't feel hungry but once I eat legit food I feel much better for the next few hours.
3. Cravings: I have had more cravings this pregnancy than with Lillian. So far I have really wanted a Chickfila chicken biscuit and pizza. Other than that nothing sounds particularly bad but I have a hard time thinking of something that sounds good. Then there will be times when I see someone on TV eating I think "mmm that sounds good" no matter what time of day or night it is. I crave salty things or meat a lot more than sweets but sugary drinks always sound good which I'm trying to limit.
4. After my nausea went away I have had horrible headaches. I get them like every two days. I tried drinking more water, more/less caffeine, sleeping different, taking Tylenol and nothing seems to help. If this is what migraines feel like I feel so sorry for ya'll that get migraines on the reg.

Doctor Appointments: 
When I first found out I was pregnant I went to the doctor for blood work. They said I was about 4 weeks at that point. They prescribed me a supplement for progesterone as my levels were low and I stayed on them until week 13.

On February 27th we had our first ultrasound and appointment with the doctor. Baby was measuring at 8 weeks and 2 days. Current due date is set October 7th. Our first ultrasound with Lillian wasn't until she was already 10 weeks and you could tell it was a baby in the pictures where as this time at 8 weeks we could only make out the head and bottom. His/her heart rate was 177 seemed high I don't remember what Lillian's was at that point but I seem to remember it was usually around 145-155 throughout my other appointments. I think it is typically higher early on.

Our most recent appointment was Monday. I was 12 weeks and 5 days at this point. I was measuring at 13 weeks and baby's heartbeat was 161. I had some minor issues (spotting and cramping) the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before that had me concerned. I called the nurse and she was super sweet and helpful at not making me feel stupid for calling. She said to take it easy the next few days (no picking up Lillian for long periods) and if I was still worried I could go on in. I figured I'd just wait for our appointment Monday. Everything turned out fine but at my appointment I did have a new nurse check for the baby's heartbeat and she couldn't find it. Then another nurse came in and she couldn't find it easier. Finally the  ultrasound tech came in and found it fine, the nurses weren't going low enough.

Weight Gain: I am about 5lbs heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. I can tell my belly is bigger but if you don't know me you'd probably just think I ate an All You Can Eat Buffet that day.

Thoughts: We have been thankful for all the congratulatory words and well wishes. We are super excited and love seeing the excitement others have for us as well.

Lillian's 2yr. Photos

We headed out to Big Spring Park to take Lillian's two year pictures. Kevin took  some great shots again and the best thing is it is free!

Lillian has a Secret...

Well I guess the secret is out! Lillian is going to be a big sister come October 7th! I'm pretty sure she has no idea what is about to happen but at least she looks excited in this picture.

After our first ultrasound (8 weeks 2 days)

We told our parents our big news as soon as we found out at about 4 weeks. We were heading to my parent's house that weekend so Kevin made this sign. 

and here is the video of Lillian giving Nana the "Valentine". We couldn't show Papa at the same time because he was in the shower. The next weekend we were already planning on going to Atlanta so we told Kevin's parent's in person then. I planned on having Lillian wear a Big Sister shirt when we walked into their house but it was late at night and she was in her pajamas asleep in the car. I figured once I put Lillian to bed at their house Kevin would tell his parents. So I waited, and waited, and waited and he never brought it up. Finally at like 11pm (at least an hour and half after we got there) I told him to check his text messages (I had been sending him texts to bring up the news but his phone was on silent) FINALLY he tells them! 

I am currently 12 weeks along tomorrow Wednesday March 25th. We are very excited and yes it was planned. 

Lillian's 2nd Birthday Weekend

Thursday March 19th our sweet baby turned 2 years old. It didn't hit me that she is no longer a baby until about 2 months ago but even within the last week she has grown up even more.

We spent her birthday morning at Toys R Us and Barnes and Noble. Both stores have a birthday club for kids and Toys R Us will give kids a birthday balloon and crown. She was in heaven with that balloon. We hung around the store for a little bit checking out all the toys. It was fun to see all caught her eye, basically anything that lights up or makes a noise.

 Afterwards we headed over to Barnes and Noble for our free cookie. Last year we got the free cupcake because it was Cheesecake Factory but it was nasty so this year we opted for the Reese PB cup cookie. That thing was enormous. We looked at all the books and read a few and played with the train table while we ate then headed back home. 

Friday Lillian had her 2 year well check up. She weighs 27.9lbs and was 34.5in. tall. It hit me again that she is no longer a baby when they weighed her standing on a legit scale and stood next to the stadiometer (height rod). She feels heavy to me when I hold her but she is about average for weight and above average for height. She is not a fan of the doctor looking in her ears or mouth but she did ok and luckily she only had to get one shot, Hep A. Best I could get for a picture

Saturday was Lillian's birthday party. We had family come in town and a few friends come to the party. We had originally planned on having it at our house until the roof leaked and we had a hole in our ceiling all week. I had gone ahead and called our church to use their fellowship hall instead and I am glad I did because it turned out Saturday morning our water had gotten turned off for about 2 hours due to some construction. I have been planning her party for awhile now and I always have an much bigger envision of what all I want to do until it comes time to do it. I scaled it back quite a bit and I am glad I did. It is much easier to plan out on pinterest than it is to execute. Her theme was Hot Air Balloons, based on a Jelly the Pug outfit I bought her on Zulily before she was even 1 yr. old. The only picture we got of her showing her full outfit. It was super cute although I'm not sure many people noticed there were actually hot ait balloons on it.

We kept it simple and had some small munchies and cupcakes. thankfully Kevin knows me well and took quite a few pictures for me. 

you can kind of see the centerpiece here, it is one of those paper lanterns with jute hanging down tied to the basket with a dowel rod holding it sturdy. Way harder to put together than I thought it would be but a cheap decoration.

I ended up making cupcakes instead of buying a cake because it was cheaper. I think cakes look so cute but I hate fondant icing and to do a fun cake like I had pictured would have required fondant. It wasn't worth the money just for the looks. I found this free printable on pinterest at http://candacetodd.blogspot.ca/2011/11/hot-air-balloons.html for the Hot Air Balloon cut outs and made them into cupcake toppers. 

For the party favor I tried to do something that went with the theme and just put cotton candy in cellophane bags and called them clouds. I found another free printable on pinterest with these thank you tags here http://www.thelittleumbrella.com/printables/53,bird-and-bunting-round-favor-labels/. 

Lillian loved having everyone sing Happy Birthday to her. I was glad it didn't scare her but she did awesome and LOVED all the attention. She even managed to blow out a candle! Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday

And my last idea from pinterest was the photo op hot air balloon 

Poppa, Lillian, and Nena

Papa, Lillian and Nana

We are so appreciative to everyone who came out to celebrate Lillian's birthday and for her gifts. She racked up on some super cute toys, new books, and clothes. You all are very special people in her life and we are so grateful for our family and our friends we made here in Huntsville the last two years. 

Building a House: Frame Review

Yesterday we met with our builder and designer for our frame review. Basically this meeting was to walk through the house so far and make sure the rooms, lighting, cable, and outlets were all in the correct place and notate anything else that might not be correct before its too late to fix.

Through this process we asked anyone we met that had built a house what they did or wish they had done and multiple people said to take pictures of the walls during the frame review. I thought it sounded silly but totally makes sense now. Kevin has pictures of every wall in every room to see where wires are located in case we need to do any work later on down the road. Here are a few pictures of the interior of the house so far. Hard to really tell what things are but its more for us to look back on.

This is one corner of the kitchen where the cabinets, appliances, sink, and island will go.

here is the other side of the kitchen. The refrigerator and pantry. And the puddle is around where the island will be.

Living room. 

Master bedroom. to the left leads into the master bath

master bath which leads to master closet

downstairs bedroom

one of the guest baths

this was taken from inside the living room that doorway is the hallway to the stairs, guest bed and bath to the right and master to the left

In the original floorplan the living room had a two-story ceiling and we didn't like the thought of heating and cooling that so we made the second floor this bonus/family room where we will have the tv.

another view of the bonus room. leads out into the hallway with two bedrooms to the left and one bedroom to the right with a bathroom and stairs in the middle.

Here is the garage. we are most excited about this and how much back yard we will still have.

another garage view

outside pic of garage and back porch

front and leftside view

front and right side view. everything without siding will be the brick.

We were shocked at how much of the house was already completed. With the cold/snow weather then all the rain we had we didn't think there could have been much done but they work hard and fast on those nice days. While we were there they were putting on the roof and next up was the brick! We hope that everything continues to go as well as it has so far. We can't wait to move but also don't mind waiting to insure a well built house.