Avocado Baby

One of my favorites! And it used to be one of Big Sister's favorites until she developed the ability to really chew and now she loves anything with a crunch! I feel like this pregnancy is going by a bit faster than when I was pregnant with Em. I know we still have a while to do, 24 weeks to be exact, but since we are heading into summer and there are so many vacations and fun things to look forward to, I feel like time is going to fly!

Along: 16 weeks

Size: This week our Luda Bean's extremities are becoming more defined and he or she is getting better at controlling movements; all to prepare for kicking and punching Mommy! I can't wait for that! Sweet baby's skeletal system is also becoming more developed and he or she will double in weight over the next couple weeks, so I guess I should be prepared for more weight gain!

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  About 7 or 8 pounds. 

Maternity Clothes: My Mom and I have been a doing a little shopping here and there and I have started to collect a pretty good summer maternity wardrobe. Something that I found really important when I was pregnant was Em was feeling like I looked cute, by wearing clothes that faltered the bump, so that is the plan this time around too!

Gender: Shawn is officially on the boy train. He says he just has a feeling. I think I am still on the girl train, but at our last appointment Luda Bean's heart rate was hanging out at 150, so it has been getting slower since the start. I also feel like I am carrying a bit different, but that may just be because I am showing sooner than what I did with Em. Either way, only time will tell!

Movement: Still waiting. I have a had a few bad cases of the bubbles that could have been mistaken as movement, but I'm pretty sure I will know the difference. I mean I've done this before, so I'm an expert, right?!?! 

Sleep:  Can't complain about sleep at the moment. Now that I am getting along into my second trimester, my energy is returning and I am feeling pretty peppy. I won't deny myself the occasional nap though. 

Exercise: Another week of beautiful weather, meant lots of outdoor time. Or as much as possible. Staying active was key with my first pregnancy, so I'm planning on keeping my legs moving as long as is safe and healthy for me and Luda Bean. 

Cravings: I have been eating an abnormal amount of BLTs lately. I guess I should make an Avocado BLT to represent our Luda Bean

Symptoms: Another week of feeling pretty great. I've had evening heartburn more frequently this week, but again it hasn't been too unbearable. 

Best Moment of the Week: On Monday we had a beautiful day. I was able to go for a run and then met up with Shawn and Em at the park. It was beautiful out and we loved getting to see our girl play outside in the sun. We got slurpees, grilled out and I even had to wash big girl's hands before dinner because they were so dirty from playing outside. It was a perfect day. 

 Emerson wanted in on the Avocado pictures too! She's going to be such a good big sister! :)

Orange Baby

Along: 15 weeks

Size: Baby is the size of a navel orange measuring approximately 4.0 inches and weighing 2.5 ounces. At this point Baby Bean is starting to grow head on his/her head. I'm really hoping for a head full of hair this go around! Baby also still has lanugo covering his or her body for protection from sitting in amniotic fluid. He or She could also be sucking his/her thumb around this time. Maybe we will catch that at the next ultrasound.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Between 5-6 pounds. I figure I will gain roughly a pound a week. 

Maternity Clothes: I had to use the hair tie trick on a pair of jeans the other day, but for the most part, my clothes are still fitting, just differently. 

Gender: I think we are going to have another girl. I'll be happy either way. Of course we would love to have a son and daughter, but the big focus is a healthy baby. I think it will definitely be harder for us to wait this time around, but I know that big delivery day will be so much more sweet with us not knowing the baby's gender.

Movement: None yet, waiting patiently. Or not so patiently.

Sleep:  Sleep has been pretty good this past week. Em had a great week of sleeping, which means Mommy did to and I have even had a few days where I didn't NEED a nap. It's great to feel productive and let me tell you, there is no one more productive than a Mom during nap time!

Exercise: I am so thankful for this beautiful week. I was at home over the weekend, so I was able to get a few runs in on the treadmill and with the great weather Me and Em have been outside for walks multiple times. I even got a solo run in thanks to the Hubs!

Cravings: I still don't feel like I have any true cravings. 

Symptoms: I've felt great this week. I have had few nights with heartburn, but nothing that a few Tums couldn't handle. 

Best Moment of the Week: Getting to enjoy the outdoors again has been so good for me, and Shawn and Em too. We are loving all the fresh air and outdoor family time! 

It's hard for me to believe that we are getting to do this all over again. I feel so blessed to be carrying another tiny human in my belly and am honored that I will get to be the Mommy of another baby boy or girl. These times in my life have been some of the most precious and am beyond grateful to be experiencing them again and for Em to be a Big Sister! God is good. 

15 months

There is something special about our girl. Maybe it's the way she says, "Mum," and looks at me for approval right before she attempts to do something that she knows is off limits. Or maybe it's her repeated kisses when we are leaving and saying good-bye. Whatever the case may be there is something special about our sweet girl and I am so thankful and blessed that she is ours.

Height/Weight: Sweet girl is weighing about 23 pounds and is roughly 31 inches tall. We go to the doctor tomorrow, so we will know her exacts then. She is definitely growing like a weed. The PJ's that used to fall off her are fitting perfectly now.

Sleep: We have struggled BIG TIME, in this area. I blame teething, but who really knows. From about 8 months to 13 months all of Em's teeth came popping through, she has 12 now, so she was waking up multiple times some nights looking for comfort and we of course gave it to her. However, this created a habit of waking up to be rocked, she would immediately fall back to sleep, but having so many interruptions in our sleep didn't make for a happy Mommy and Daddy. With that being said, things are on the mend, and she will usually go down around 7:00 sleep to at least 5:00 and then we'll rock her and put her back in her crib until 6:30/7:00. Every now and then she wakes up after only being asleep for an hour or so. She doesn't completely wake up, so sadly, we think she may be having bad dreams. We've had several nights this week that she has slept from 7:00 to 7:00, so I'm hoping that we are back on our way to good sleeping habits, we shall see! As far as naps go, they are hit or miss still. She sometimes takes  cat nap in the morning, usually in the car when we are running errands and then takes at least a 1 hour and 1/2 nap in the afternoon. It's definitely a work in progress.

Eating: Most days, the girl loves to eat. I can't guarantee that she will eat well for all meals, but for the most part, I am really happy about her eating habits. We try to stay away from snacks and stick to her just eating her 3 meals a day. I find that if she gets a snack between lunch and dinner that she doesn't eat dinner as well, but then again, some days it's like we can't feed her enough. This month Em has taken a real liking to chili, cornbread and spaghetti. Green Beans, Yogurt (which she loves to feed her self), Strawberries, Blueberries, Oatmeal, Sausage, Kix and Cheese all remain to be some of her staple favorites. She gets 2 cups of milk a day, breakfast and dinner, and has water or juice for lunch. It can take her a long time to drink a cup of milk, so sometimes I am lucky if she drinks a full 8 ounces in a day, but again, we're working on it.

Clothes: Can I just say I love shopping for this girl?! Everything is just too cute. With that, she is in 12-18 month or 18-24 month clothing.

Likes: Sweet girl loves swim class, being outside (these last few days have been great, so I'm just hoping this nicer weather is here to stay!), listening to music and dancing, pushing her shopping cart, watching Disney Channel, taking showers and getting her hair blown dry. She also loves to read, or should I say stack books, and we have started to take trips to the library. We've been twice and every time she runs around looking and wanting to touch all the books. Thankfully they have bins for books that need to be re-shelved. Coloring is another activity we have taken a liking to, although at times it becomes a battle of not eating the markers, and I will say I am thankful for magic markers that only write on the special coloring paper. She has also started to actually put puzzles together, instead of eating them, and I love seeing her learn more and more! And last, but not least, she loves talking. She babbles all day long, but her true words consist of Ma-ma, Da-da, Uh-oh, Dog, No, Yep, Hi, Bye and More. She also tells us what a dog, bear and werewolf say, you can thank Daddy for that last one.

Dislikes: Basically anytime we try to redirect her to something other than what she is trying to do she gets upset. For example, climb the stairs unassisted, crawl in the dishwasher, play with the trashcan, pull the computer off the desk. She also hates having her diaper changed.

Sweet girl is a very smart and as I've said before, very sassy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. I love her personality and I'm trying not to change it, but shape it, if that makes any sense at all.

Here is the Diva herself!

Anyways, we have a big trip coming up to CALIFORNIA at the end of the month! I'll post a trip update and some of my learned dos and don'ts of traveling with a toddler cross country when we get back!

Love, Ash

Lemon Baby

Along: 14 weeks...we think! This pregnancy started off a little different than with Em. At our first doctor's appointment, they though the baby should have measured around 7 weeks on Ultrasound, but Bean was only measuring 5 weeks. This was concerning, but we saw several good signs including the pull of little ones heart, so we went back exactly a week later and little one had grow to 6 weeks, 4 days. At that point we stuck to a 9/10 due date, but at our last ultrasound baby was measuring 13 weeks, 5 days, a week bigger than what my due date would have predicted, so our due date was changed to 9/3 and here we are. Started off, "small," and now we are right back to being on track. 

Size: Baby is the size of a lemon, 3.4 inches long and 1.5 ounces in weight. Baby is starting to have a well defined face and may even start growing hair! Baby's boy or girl parts are also starting to develop this week! It amazing to me that most of the critical parts of baby's organ systems have already developed. The way God created our bodies is beyond amazing to me. Grow baby, grow!

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  I'm going to guess I'm up about 5 pounds. I gained about 30 pounds with Em, so I'd love to stick around that number again.

Maternity Clothes: None yet, but since my bigger months with be in the summer this go around I am looking forward to doing a little shopping with my Mom this weekend for me and our new little one!

Gender: A big question mark! Like with Em, we aren't going to find out the gender. We have gone back and forth on this, but think that it is going to be just as wonderful as with Em to wait and find out whether we are going to have a Son or Daughter. Either way, we will be beyond excited!

Movement: This is by far one of my favorite things about pregnancy, but I'll have to wait a little longer! We are both hoping that this little one is just as active as Em was in my womb. 

Sleep:  It's definitely harder to catch those naps this time around, but an early bedtime is helping with that. For now my sleep depends on Em, if she sleeps, I sleep, so we're doing good so far. I was beyond exhausted during my first trimester, but I can already feel a difference in my energy levels. 

Exercise: I plan on running just as much with Luda Bean as I did the first time around. It has been harder so far, because of our wonderful winter, so I'm really looking forward to spring weather so me and Em can get back outside. 

Cravings: I wouldn't say I have cravings...yet, but I have been drinking more lemonade and orange juice, so I guess I will say citrus/sour things are my favorites at the moment. 

Symptoms: I'm more likely to get motion sickness in the car and if I let my self get too hungry I get nauseous. Other than that and being way more tired, I feel pretty much the same as I normally would.

Best Moment of the Week: We got to see Bean on Tuesday! Shawn was able to be off work, so all 3 of us went to the ultrasound. It was so fun to look at our sweet baby;s features and 
start guessing whether we are having a boy or girl. Baby even looked right at us while we were having the ultrasound performed. I still can't believe we are in our 2nd trimester! 

Luda Bean - Here we go again!

That's right folks, our little family will soon be a family of FOUR and we couldn't be more excited! Finding out that we were expecting our second child brought a whole new load of emotions, but overwhelmingly those emotions were of excitement, joy and wonder! We have no idea what life is going to look like for us come September, but what we do know is that our hearts are going to be that much more full as we open them to our new little Miss or Mister.

The news that we were expecting again did not come to as a shock. We knew that we wanted to expand our family and that the time was nearing for our "planned" second baby. After our big trip to Disney last September, we decided that, "whatever happens, happens," and we started the journey to becoming a family of four. On December 28th, right after I had dropped Shawn off at the airport for a business trip, I decided that I was enough days late to take a test. I had done similar things in previous months, but I did feel different this time. Sure enough I got to the + sign and when Shawn sent me a text that he would be taking off soon, I quickly responded with, "We'll miss you, all 3 of us!" It took him a few minutes, but he quickly caught on and was overjoyed to know that he was going to be a Dad, again.

After the initial shock set in I tried to take time to sit and process. I was going to be a Mom of not just Em, but another sweet blessing. I was and still am excited, nervous and anxious for the unknown. We are loving life as a family of three and just like before Em came, we are going to cherish the time we have, just the three of us, because it will never be like this again. This new little Miss or Mister is going to rock our world and I have no doubt that Em will be shocked by all the changes that she is about to go through, but with a little bit of patience, coffee and a whole lot of Jesus, I know we are going to survive the difficult times and soak up the good times. I am so eager to meet this little bundle of joy and know that once he or she makes the big debut my heart is going to expand and  the love I have for my children will grow and grow.

Baby Luda Bean, we love you so much already!

Sorry for the bare belly picture, it's the only one I took the Day we found out. And Em was so excited she went straight to her favorite spot, the shower!

14 months

You know those commercials with the sour patch kids? Where they do something completely crazy and ridiculous and then turn all sweet giving hugs and kisses. Yea, we have one. A real life, functioning sour patch kid who I couldn't imagine my life without. In the 2 months that we have been adventuring into toddler hood Shawn and I have had to face a lot of "challenges" as parents. The fact that we have rambunctious little girl should really be no shocker, look who her parents are, but with that being said, I still find myself saying, "Who took my baby and gave me this toddler?" She is crazy, but in all the good ways. She makes me laugh and gets me praying more than anyone or anything ever has and for that I am so thankful.

The most recent lesson learned from Em involved the toilet. On Sunday morning I was getting ready for church and I heard her splashing in the toilet...again. Earlier in the week we caught her putting her pacifiers in the toilet, luckily they did not make it into her mouth. As I ran into the bathroom I looked at her and said, "I've told you 15 times not to be your hands in the toilet!" And then it hit me. This is what God feels like. He's told me 15 times to get my hands out of my own "toilet" because he knows what's best for me, but still I think it's a good idea. Slowly, but surely I am coming to grasps with the fact that my daughter, although the perfect daughter for me, is not and will not be perfect. She has imperfect parents, so who can blame her. It's my job as her Mom and Shawn and her Dad to guide her in the right way. To teach her about love and kindness and most importantly the love of our Savior. Every day I want to be the best me that I can be for her. I want her to be proud that I'm her Mommy, but most importantly I want to the do the job that God has trusted me with justice. It's no easy task and sometimes I find myself asking for a do-over before the has really even gotten to a start, but at the end of every day as long as she knows that she is fiercely and passionately loved, then I feel I have done my job. And let me tell you, she is fiercely loved, not only by me, but by her Dad, her family and her FRamily.

Now that I've babbled, lets get to the important stuff, Em's favorites!
She loves swim lessons, playing at the park (I've been so thankful for the teases of spring) and running all over the place. Music, dancing and "reading" books take up a majority of our mornings and snuggles and the occasional Disney channel viewing session take up our afternoons along with trips to the store/shopping. Her favorite food is definitely still mac and cheese, but she had sloppy joe's and pasta with tomatoes and pesto recently and went crazy for them! Blueberries, strawberries and bananas are still her favorite fruits and she loves KIX. I usually have to give her a cup of them in the morning while I'm making breakfast since she wakes up, as I like to say, "hangry." Angry, hungry. She is a ball of energy and I am so excited for all the adventures we have ahead of us!

Lots of Love,
Ash

13 Months

It's official. We have a walker. A walker who also happens to be allergic to peanuts. Yes, peanuts. A lesson this Mommy had to figure out the hard way. Needless to say this past month has been a whirlwind. After Em's birthday Christmas celebrations went into full swing and before we knew it we were counting down the New Year. The New Year, 2015, a year for exploring, making messes and trying my best to be the Mom God wants me to be for my precious Em. 

Nugget is a girl on the move. She is consistently walking now, although she does crawl every now and then. She loves talking and really loves giving kisses. She has also learned to give a fist pump, which she tries to get everyone in the room involved in. She has remained a good eater, especially now that her teeth aren't bothering her as much, she has 11 and her favorite foods are mac-n-cheese, broccoli, chicken, sausage, blueberries and strawberries. She really eats just about anything and we even got her to eat a waffle at her Granny and Papa's house this weekend, something she has been refusing to eat. I mean, what kid doesn't like waffles?! Em weighs roughly 21 pounds, wears 18 month clothes and size 4 diapers. We have been working on weaning her from breast milk and I'm thinking that this week she will be completely off and onto drinking cow's milk. I have been dropping a feeding a week since she turned 12 months old. It hasn't been the easiest process, but it's time. She hasn't been the biggest fan of cow's milk, but I think that it is starting to grow on her. We're also working on going down to 1 nap, which has it's good days and bad days, but I'm hoping that it will get her back to sleeping better through the night. Only time will tell.

Here are a few pictures of our busy toddler!

Being a toddler is rough...falling asleep while eating.

Have a great day!