Pregnancy: 12 Weeks

Forgive the blurry picture. I took a picture of the ultrasound. You can atleast see that the baby looks like an actual human and not a gummy bear. If I ever get around to it I will actually scan them all and post... Also, belly pic will come later when someone is here to take it for me!

I finally made it to 12 weeks!! (I'm actually almost in week 13 now.) I am feeling much better as long as I eat right when I feel hungry. I seem to always be hungry. I am certainly eating more with this pregnancy than I did with the last one and I'm hoping that means I don't gain tons more weight! I have so much more energy than I did with Caroline, but by the end of the day I am ready to crash. This baby is sitting so low and putting a lot of pressure on my sciatic nerve. All I can do is take tylenol and use a heating pad on low - neither of which help a whole lot. This past week has been quite bad and I've been having a hard time walking. It flares up suddenly and causes a moment of severe pain. Luckily it's mainly happened while at home. I stumbled because of the pain the other day - while holding Caroline. I've been trying not to hold her as much just in case, which makes me sad. I never experienced this with Caroline and I must say that it's not pleasant. When that isn't giving me any trouble, I feel great so I'm trying to focus on that!

I haven't been having any major food cravings or aversions. I just find that I am always hungry. With Caroline I had very strong cravings and aversions. I have been having some pregnancy induced insomnia. It takes me forever to get comfortable and fall asleep and then 30 minutes later I am wide awake. I guess I need to get used to being up all night, huh?

We had the genetic screen appointment this week. The fluid behind the neck measured normal and there was a distinct and perfectly formed nasal bone. Abnormal measurements can be indicators of open spinal defects, Down's Syndrome, and Trisomy 18. We are waiting on blood results, but so far everything looked fantastic. We also had an ultrasound. The heartbeat has slowed down a lot (completely normal) and is very strong. He/She was just relaxing - a far cry from Caroline at the genetic screening appointment. She was jumping and turning the entire time! We were able to get a great profile shot and just like big sister, this baby has Adam's nose!! He/She was adorable!! It was still too early for the doctor to even make a guess about gender...plus the baby was super low and wouldn't show us their stuff. We'll find out soon enough! We will find out before Christmas which is great - plenty of time to get them gifts!!

It's so amazing to be able to experience this again. What a wonderful blessing! Don't forget to vote in the baby pool if you want to - we're going to close it in a few weeks!

See below for another new post.

Seventeen Months Old

Seventeen Months Old - October 23, 2011



It's getter harder and harder to get a decent picture of Caroline on demand (thus the messy face, messy hair picture above). She's such a busy girl! In one more month she'll be a year and half!! Yikes - where has time gone? She's been vocalizing more and more this month. She'll often try to repeat the words we say, even though she won't say them on her own. She's tried to copy: cold, horse, work, lunch, throw, and flower. I know there are more, but that's all I can think of. She's been consistantly saying: bye, no, go, Daisy (all same as before), but has also added yes, catch, hop and ball to the list. She can moo and quack and point to several body parts when asked. She can correctly point to different family members in pictures. It's amazing to me how much she learns every day. She doesn't cry getting out of the car during carpool anymore (thank goodness!!) and she doesn't fuss too much when I leave her with sitters or friends.

She is down to one nap a day, although on certain days she'll still take two. There are rare days when she takes none. She has been going to bed around 8:00. She sleeps like a champ! If she wakes up early, she'll always want to get in bed with daddy. The other morning she woke up. I went in to check on her and she kept pointing to go down the hall. She kept pointing until we got to my bedroom. When she saw Adam was still there, she started fist pumping. She's not a mama's girl or a daddy's girl - but she can be either at times. When she wakes up from a nap or in the middle of the night, she will always want me. When she's getting tired at night and wants to be held, she always wants Adam- but she wants me to put her to bed.

She loves music and dancing. We have dance parties almost every night. When Adam and I found out that Caroline was a girl, he said that he didn't know what to do with a girl and he was worried he wouldn't be any good. Well Adam, I think dancing to Lady Gaga and Minnie's bowtique are exactly what you do with a little girl. He truly is the best dad to a little girl I've ever seen.

Happy 17 month birthday little Caroline! We love you so much. You are such a smart, funny, sweet, curious little girl and we love watching you grow up!

Where's Caroline?



Here I am!!

Time to get out.


No!! (That is actually what she was saying here)



Apparently springform pans are good to sit in and to wear as hats. Who knew?

Old Wives Tales

There are so many old wives tales about how to determine the gender of your baby. My doctor assures me that there is no way to tell the sex except for an ultrasound (and DNA testing). Here are some of the old wives tales and where Baby Israel falls...

Heartbeat: If the baby has a heartbeat about 140, it's a girl. If it's below, it's a boy. At 9 weeks the baby had a heartbeat in the 180's - so that means girl!! Of course Caroline never got above 140 and she's a girl.

High or Low: If you carry the baby high, it's a girl. If you carry low, it's a boy. This baby is sitting much lower than Caroline - so baby boy?

Face: If your face gets rounder, it's a girl. My face isn't getting any rounder with this pregnancy. Boy? Then again...it didn't with Caroline!

Old Mayan Tale: Add the numbers of the mothers age at conception. If it's even, it's a girl and if it's odd it's a boy. I was 26 when I got pregnant (I turned 27 the following month) so that would be 8 - girl! I was 25 with Caroline so she shouldn've been a boy.

Acne: If you get acne you'll have a girl. I'm breaking out like crazy so it should be a girl. My face has never been more clear than when I was pregnant with C...so she should be a boy!! (Almost everything said boy when I was having her!!)

Cravings: Sweet means girl and salty means boy. I couldn't stand sweets with Caroline and only wanted salty. This pregnancy I'm not craving much but I can still eat sweets so it's hard to say.

Chinese Gender Chart: With Caroline it said girl and with this one it says boy!

Baby Names: If you can only think of names for a particular gender, that is what you are having. I could only come up with boy names for Caroline and she's a girl... With this one, I only have a girl name picked out!

Headaches: Headaches mean boy. I am having lots of headaches with this pregnancy - so boy!

Dry Hands: Dry hands mean boy. My hands are very dry - so boy again!! (Or it's getting colder outside...)

Morning Sickness: If you are sick and nauseaus, it's a girl. If you don't get sick, it's a boy. I've gotten sick with this one a lot - so it's a girl!

Ring Test: Circle means girl and back and forth means boy. My ring made a circle - so girl!

Dreams: Whatever sex you dream about you will have. I only had dreams about girls with Caroline and with this one I have only had boy dreams - boy! I've also read that whatever sex you dream about means you will have the oppostite...so that means girl as well. Hopefully there is only one baby in there!!

As you can tell, it's pretty much a toss up for boy or girl but it's fun to guess! I really don't have a strong feeling either way of what the sex is but I am excited to find out! At first I thought it must be a boy because I just feel so different. Then I was convinced it was a girl because I kept saying "she" when refering to the baby. Now I just don't know!! We still have several weeks to go...unless of course I can convince the doctor to try to see it sooner :)

Miss Independent

Caroline is quite the independent eater lately. She doesn't want us to feed her. Even though she makes a huge mess we let her try to use the fork and spoon. Here she is enjoying some yogurt.

Moo

Caroline hit a big milestone this week. She said "moo." She hasn't been too interested in making animal noises. She will laugh when we do it but that's about it. After weeks of going over it several times each day she finally said "mmmm" when asked what a cow says. She laughed at herself making the noise too. Precious. She was very proud of herself (as were her mommy and daddy).

Making room for baby

Planning for a new baby is so much fun, but a lot of work!! I thought it would be pretty easy considering this is our second, but it's actually more work this time around. We are turning the guest room into Caroline's big girl room. We are turning Caroline's current room into the new baby's nursery. We are working on making the laundry room more useable (more shelving and storage plus a "folding station" coming off the wall) since we can no longer use the guest room for storage and folding/sorting clothes. We've still got some baby gear to get, including a double stroller. We have nursery furniture, but we're looking for C's big girl furniture. We have several other house projects that we want to finish before #2 gets here as well. We're certainly going to be busy. This isn't so easy considering Adam's hectic work schedule and orders from my cardiologist to be as "sedentary as possible." Yeah right...

The second trimester is days away and I'm starting to feel the need to get things moving around here! Adam has forbidden me from painting (which is probably not a bad thing) although I'm tempted to everyday. If anyone feels like painting, moving furniture, hanging light fixtures, or picking out bedding and fabric you are more than welcome to come to our house!!!

Anyway, since we haven't done much around the house we decided to take care of some other things that don't take up much time or energy. We bought Baby Israel 2 a new swing. We had borrowed a swing when C was born but we figured it was time we got our own. We got the "My Little Lamb" cradle and swing. It's all set up and ready for a baby!! Atleast we can check that off our list!

First Haircut!

Yesterday Caroline got her very first haircut! She's been needing it done for a while but I was hesitant to cut her sweet little baby hair off. The cooler weather brought along some allergies and so her nose was always runny. A runny nose and long hair didn't mix too well...we were wiping snot out of her hair way more than necessary :) We went to Angel Hair in Crestline Village and they did a wonderful job. Caroline got a sweet little bob. She did very well as long as she was in my lap. Since I was holding her I don't have any "during" pictures, but here are the very cute "afters."

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Caroline has inherited my love for shoes. She always wants to have shoes on lately. She's not too picky (although I'm sure that will change as she gets older). She will wear my shoes, Adam's shoes, her shoes, or what ever shoes she can find. They don't have to match either. We've recently become the proud owners of some sparkly ruby red slippers. She wants to wear those all the time!! The other night she went into her closet and pull out two different shoes and put them on herself!! I couldn't get a good picture since she was running all over the house, but here's Miss Priss enjoying shoes.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the Old Baker Farms Pumpkin Patch. We went last year and just loved it so we were so excited to go back this year. We had the best time!


Adadm and Caroline in the corn maze. The maze was actually really hard and I gave up...I didn't feel like spending hours lost in corn.


They had tiny tractors around everywhere and Caroline LOVED them!!



Caroline on a giant bale of hay.


She loved the ducks. She says goats, a baby cow, bunnies, turkeys, lambs, and other birds but the baby ducks were totally the favorite. She spent forever looking at them and waving.


She decided to sit on the little tractors backwards.



She played in more hay.


She loved picking up the pumpkins. She proudly picked out a small white pumpkin!



She helped daddy pick out a flat pumpkin.


And then sat on it on the hay ride back. She is also holding some kettle corn, one of her favorite things of the day. She got to try a sno cone, kettle corn, fresh squeezed lemonade, and boiled peanuts.


We came home with 1 bale of hay, 3 pumpkins, and 1 very worn out little girl. All we need to do is hang our fall door sign and we'll be set!


Caroline picked out the white pumpkin. Adam picked out the flat one.


And I picked out the big round one. We had such a fun time and we are excited to go back next year!! I can't believe we'll have another little one with us then!!

Happy Fall!!

Boy or Girl...who cares???

Lately I have been asked (by almost everyone) if I want this baby to be a boy or girl. My response lately is just "yes." Yes, in fact, I do want it to be a boy or girl. Anything else would be strange. When I was pregnant with Caroline I did have a preference, or so I thought. I thought I wanted a boy so that my girls could have a big brother. I had a big brother and loved it. That was the only thing I knew so that's how I thought it should be with my own kids. 16 months later I look at the most wonderful little girl and sort of want to hit myself for ever thinking I wanted something different. It never bothered me with C when people asked what gender I was hoping for, but with this one I find that it irritates me so much! I've already had people say, "if it's another girl are you going to try for a boy?" or "if it's a boy are you going to be done?" Maybe I want 2 kids, maybe I want 3 - that will not depend on their gender though. If this baby is a boy then we will celebrate that we will have one of each. If this baby is a girl, then we will celebrate that our daughters will grow up being best friends. Is there really a losing side to this? I recently read a comment on another blog (of someone who found out the gender of their baby). The comment said "I know this is what you wanted and you must be thrilled" or something along those lines. I'm not sure why, but that set me off this morning!! Would she not have been thrilled if it were the opposite gender? All babies - boy or girl - are an amazing gift. I knew a long time ago that I wanted to be a mother. My wish was never to have a boy or to have a girl - it was to have a child. I don't think it's bad when people do have a desire for sex, what I do find bad is that the word "disappointment" keeps popping up. "Will you be disappointed if it's a girl?" Finding out the sex of this baby will be many things but I can assure you, disappointing will not be one of them!

Maybe it's crazy pregnancy hormones that are making me nuts over this. Maybe it's the fact that I have a daughter (which seems to be the less desired gender) that's making me protective. Maybe it's the fact that I prayed for a CHILD and not a specific gender that's doing this to me. Who knows? All this to say that...

Sweet Baby #2,
I loved you the minute I knew you were coming. Everyday my love for you grows more and more. Boy or girl, you are still my baby and will always be a wanted, welcomed, loved, important member of this family. What's important to me is that you are happy and healthy and that you always feel special - because you already are! I cannot wait to find out WHO you are...not WHAT you are. Love, your mommy

Sixteen Months Old

Sixteen Months Old - September 23, 2011



A couple of weeks ago my sweet girl turned 16 months. I have looked at Caroline more times this past month and thought that she looked like such a big girl. I keep forgetting she's a toddler and not a little baby! Her understanding of things has increased exponentially! I can say any of the following and she will follow directions:

Take this to daddy/mommy
Throw this away
Time for lunch/dinner/snack
Do you want water/milk? (She will shake her head yes or no)
Give that to mommy/daddy
Where's daddy?
Let's go outside/to your room
Time to go (She'll go to the door)
Let's read. (She'll pick out a book)


She's not speaking as much but she's trying to vocalize so much more! She can say yes, no, go, mama, dada, Daisy. She says something that sounds like "ooshta" all the time. She is always pointing to something when she says it so I'm pretty sure she's asking "What's that?" She'll also say "Who dat?" when pointing at people. Other things she can say: Ti Woo (Roll Tide), di di (bye bye), di di di (bye bye diaper), mememe (Mimi), oh, okay, whoa (she says that when she drops something). We'll have a little talker on our hands in no time!!

She loves taking showers, going outside, playing with her doll, looking at books, putting bowls on her head - but not hats or bows or anything that actually belongs on her head, riding in the car, swinging, watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Choo Choo Soul, closing doors and drawers, and singing. She's such a joy to watch and we are having so much fun!

Happy 16 months sweet Caroline! You are growing up into such a fun, smart, beautiful little girl and I love every second that I am with you. We love you more than you will ever know!! I am so proud to be your mommy!

Pregnancy 8 and 9 weeks

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to go ahead and document them.

Pregnancy 8 Weeks:

At 8 weeks I have started wearing the "belly band." My belly is just big enough that I cannot button up my regular pants. I am measuring several weeks ahead (which is normal for a second pregnancy). I also started getting sick this week. I never got sick with Caroline so this was quite unexpected. We had another ultrasound. The doctor said everything looked perfect and the heartbeat was strong.






Pregnancy 9 Weeks:

Since I've been growing faster, I've had a lot of ligament pain and back pain. Thankfully I'm at home during this prenancy so I can rest when I need to. I still have my energy, which is great! By this time when I was pregnant with C, I could hardly keep my eyes open past lunch time. I was so worried that I would be tired and not able to keep with with my energetic toddler but so far, so good. I'm sure it's coming, but I'm enjoying this time while I have it. We had another ultrasound (the one perk to being in the high risk clinic - you get tons of ultrasounds! I've had 4 already.) and once again, everything looked great. The heartbeat was very high - 182!! (Last week it was one the low side) According to the old wives tale, this would mean girl. The doctor said that she's seen tons of boys with high heart rates and girls with low heart rates so I'm just going to have to wait. She also reminded me that Caroline's heartrate never got close to the "girl range" and she is clearly a girl. Fetal heartrates change every day during the first several weeks before tapering off. Our baby's heartrate was the in the "perfect" range which means they have a strong heart and is growing exactly as they should. Music to a mother's ears...



The doctor said that I look perfect as well! I normally go for my clinic visit every 2 weeks but since everything was great, I don't have to go back for another 4 weeks!! Although I do have a cardiology appointment and we've decided to do the genetic screening so my weeks will still be filled with doctor visits. We were very encouraged by how well the doctor said that I was. We are feeling mighty blessed these days!

Now we're at 10 weeks and are anxiously awaiting the end of the first trimester!!! We have another ultrasound in 2 weeks (and it's a long one so we'll have lots of pictures) and we cannot wait to see our sweet baby again!!

A much needed break

First of all, I am very behind on blogging. I still have C's 16 month post to put up (and she's getting close to 17 months!!). Hopefully I'll have some time today to get to them!

Last weekend, Adam, Caroline and I went to Point Clear for the weekend. Adam attended the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association Fall Meeting and we decided to tag along. I am so glad that we did because we had a wonderful time. We left on Thursday and came home Sunday. It was a short trip, but exactly what we needed! This post will be a lot of pictures, so enjoy!

On Friday, Adam had to do a little work before he went to the meeting. I'm not sure if he has taken a full day off of work since he started at the firm!! Caroline didn't want to leave her daddy, so she hid with her blocks under the desk.


After getting her out from under the desk, we went on a walk. The weather was perfect! There were hammocks and swinging benches all over the resort. Caroline even took a short nap on one of the benches. We wandered down to the beach and played there for a while.








Eventually it was time for C to take a nap. All of that running around and playing wore her out!!


After Adam's meeting was over, the three of us went out to dinner. I don't have any pictures from the evening but I wish I did! Caroline was hysterical. She was waving, blowing kisses, dancing, and talking to every person there! We seriously had people come over to our table as they were walking out because they wanted to come see her one last time before they left! She's such a little ham!

The next morning we got up to feed the ducks. They will eat right out of your hand. It was such a bizarre feeling.




I don't have any other pictures from the rest of the day. We spent the day relaxing by the pool and watching the Alabama game.

It was a wonderful trip and we were all sad to head home!