26 weeks

How far along?: 26 weeks

Movement: Baby girl is pretty active a few different chunks of time a day; morning, afternoon and evening - right when I'm settling into bed. Ellie was the same way and they are times when I can really sit (or lay) and soak in the amazingness of this life inside me. It truly is a mind blowing thing and I'm very grateful for it. And Steven was able to feel her a couple weeks ago, too!

Total weight gain/loss: So far I have gained 8 pounds my total pregnancy. It still surprises me and Steven that it has been so little. I may be eating a little better and may be a little more active than last time, but still...really?! Less than 10 pounds?!? At my appointment last week I asked what I weighed this time around when I was pregnant with Ellie, and it was 10 pounds more than what I weigh now. Yessss!!!!! I do need to be careful though, because I don't want to gain a ton of weight really fast at the end and I do have a little ways to go till this girl comes. The doctor's office hasn't said anything, other than "good" when I get on the scale, too.

Maternity clothes: More and more of my shirts are needing to be retired...they tend inch their way up and pulling them down constantly is a bit annoying. Some also don't go around the belly nicely and I don't want it to be sticking out from under my shirt! Two out of my four pre-pregnancy jeans still fit and I still don't fit into my actual pregnancy jeans.

Currently craving?: Dutch Bros. coffee all the time - Hazelnut freeze to be exact, ice cream (but I don't have this too often), fruit, crackers with salami and cheese and Taco Bell.

Anything make you sick or queasy?: Sometimes waiting too long to eat in between meals/snacks can make that queasy feeling come on.

Belly button in or out?: It's sticking out pretty much 99.9% of the time and through my clothes you can see the little bump.

Stretch marks?: Maybe a few more?? I am getting more itchy off and on throughout the day and I try my hardest not to itch. Still trying to slather on the lotion (Palmers stretch mark lotion and coconut oil) several times a day and when I feel that itch come on.

Sleep: I still get pretty tired earlier than later (9:30pm) and fall asleep super fast. There are times throughout the night however when I have a harder time falling back asleep, you know, after getting up to use the bathroom several times! But overall, I'm still doing good in this department. More than not I try to get up, read and take a shower before Ellie wakes up. Later in the day though I feel the tiredness come on more than if I had just slept that extra hour. Naps could happen most days, however I don't always give into that.

Feeling: Emotional still. Mostly just crying about things faster, or I may have more attitude. Heartburn has come on the last couple weeks. It usually hits around mid/late afternoon and can last off and on till I go to bed. Sciatic nerve pain on the left side gets me every few days, but doesn't last too long. I got that when I was pregnant with Ellie and there were several times when I just had to lay down on the couch because walking hurt!

Working on/Thinking about: Even though my weight gain has been great, I have known the whole time that I should be working out and be consistent about it. Plus, it would make me feel a little less guilty for those treats I have! So, this last week I worked out a handful of times and I'm really proud of myself for that. On top of this I am thinking about my next routine OB appointment and how I will be getting the glucose test (routine for around this time) and when I was pregnant with Ellie I failed the first time. That means you need to take the three hour one as well, which also entails getting stuck with a needle more and fasting longer - none of that is fun! (Thankfully I passed that second time.) But, I'm very curious if my splurging throughout this pregnancy, or just this pregnancy in general, has caused me to develop gestational diabetes??
And then, I think about labor quite often. Ellie came on the first due date I was given (the earliest of all three dates I was given) and labor only lasted 9.5 hours, with pushing for only a couple of that. Everything was pretty much to the book and I am very curious how it will go this time. I'm also a planner, and not being able to plan/control something like this is a big thing. Labor is a BIG thing and I want to be as easy going as last time, with relaxing and not getting caught up in things.

Favorite moment from this week?: Hearing how much less I weigh this time around was really nice! And then of course hearing the babies heartbeat again! We also brought Ellie with us to my last appointment just so she could see me getting "checked out" by my doctor. It was her first time (as a toddler) going there and I want to try whatever we can to help ease her stress when she goes to her doctors office. Anyways, when the doctor put the doppler to my belly to check the babies heartbeat, Ellie said "wow, that's noisy!" haha. It was a precious moment having her there and hearing that at the same time...both my girls...one in my belly, one in our arms!

Ellie's 2 year update

 ^^ this one was just of her blinking (obviously), but it totally could be mid eye roll, 

like "Really mom?? Enough pictures already!" haha

I am usually so on it with these posts, but for some reason or another this one kept getting pushed farther and farther out. Our girl turned 2 on February 5th and it has been amazing to see her growth in so many ways this past year. She melts our hearts and we are extremely blessed to call her ours. (I could write more paragraphs than I have below, all about how she has touched our lives...)

Size: 34.3" (62%) and 27.5 pounds (62%). Wearing 2T-4T clothes and size 7 shoe. She is looking taller and taller - clearly she's growing, but since calling her "big girl" more often, she really is looking like, and acting like, a for real toddler. My arms can definitely feel her growth as well - I can't hold her as long anymore!

Hair: Auburn and holding strong. I still have yet to cut it, too. It's growing out well, but no matter how I do it, it pretty much always falls out and gets in her face.

Sleeping: She's holding on to her nap so nicely, with the exception of early waking every once in awhile. On average she still does 12:45 - 3:15pm. And then falls asleep around 8:30pm and stays down till around 7/7:30am. With nap she falls asleep super fast, but at bedtime it takes her a bit to wind down (we put her in crib around 7:45, but like I wrote above, doesn't fall asleep till around 8:30pm). Even if we wait longer to put her down, it still seems to take her awhile to settle down. So we feel like no matter what, we may as well keep her bedtime the same (earlier than later). She still only sleeps with one blanket and doesn't even need it for comfort or warmth; it ends up across crib more than half the time. She sucks on her right hand middle and ring finger though for that comfort still when tired.

^^ a scene I walked into after she was done with nap

Eating: She's kind of a picky eater, because more than not, she won't try new foods. We try our hardest to entice her with new things, it just doesn't always work. Her fave foods are chicken nuggets, quesadillas, lasagna, mac & cheese, yogurt and pretty much any smoothie and fruit. She has 3 meals, with 1-2 snacks. Girl loves her milk, always has, so we limit it and have now switched from whole milk to 2% and she doesn't show the slightest care. (We switched because she's growing great and doesn't need that extra fat, especially now that she's 2.) In that mouth of hers there are 13 teeth, with a couple more showing signs of trying to pop through.

Milestones/Accomplishments:
-Potty trained. We started the training process December 26th (she was almost 23 months) and it has been going wonderfully, with a few regression times. She does wear pull-ups (which we call "sleep underwear") during nap and at night. And pooping is still a tricky thing to get her to do on the potty and not in her sleep underwear.
-Counts..."1, 2, 3, (skips 4 pretty much every single time) 5, 6," pauses, and we have to say 7 sometimes, but she goes on to say "8,9,10" and sometimes she adds 11 on the end!
-Alphabet..."a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, x, y, z!" e-i is a little different sometimes, missing letters here and there or mixing them up a bit. She can also identity 10-15 letters
-Saying up to 6 word phrases/sentences. She shocks us a lot with how much she says in sentence form.
-Knows all body parts
-Knows colors and some shapes are usually right on the money... heart, circle, square...

Likes:
-Dancing
-Babies. She is constantly wanting to give her babies a bath, cuddle them, feed them, dance with them, dress and undress them, even have them sit in her lap - while she sits in your lap - with a blanket on all of you - and have you read to the both of them
-TV show Sofia the First. Right when she turned 2 we let her watch an episode of a show a day, if she asks.
-Story time before nap and bedtime (that cuddle/story time is some of my favorite time with her, too)
-Tickles
-Being chased by us, friends and other kids (mostly the running around together with other kids)
-Asks "this one?" (like as in what is this/who is this) or "what's this called?" all the time. Wants to learn so much
-"Slides" with the couch cushions and tunnels/forts with furniture and blankets

Dislikes:
- Dr. office. She has cried and clung to us the last several times we've gone in. We do our best to ease her uneasiness, but she just gets so upset when the doctor does their normal checks. It may not help that she has gotten a shot or two the last several times, it's a different provider the last handful of times (her original doctor was out of town, she is changing specialties and the office just recently got a full time person to replace her) and the appointments are far and few in between. Awhile ago we got her a little doctor kit to play with at home, to help familiarize her with the different items and checks, we show her a picture of the doctor and talk about them before we go, etc but it doesn't seem to help one bit once we are there.

Things to remember:
Said, "I love dancing so much". How she says "yeeaahh" with a slight tilt of her head. When we go into her room when nap is done or when she wakes in morning, says "all done sleepin". Replaces 't' with a 'p' sound often, so spoon, is 'stoon', and spot is 'stot' and speaker is 'steaker'...but only if that letter is in a word, so 'pot' and 'picture' sound normal, since they start with a 'p'. Sings "happy birphday day tooo yooouu!!" randomly throughout the day. When asked how old she is says, "turned 2". Has combined the phrases 'funny girl' and 'silly goose' to 'funny goose'

Birthday morning above (she was sooo excited to see the presents and the balloons) and her birthday party below. This year she was able to open (most of) her presents on her own and got more excited about things. 

I decided to do a low key animal birthday party for her...she has fun going through the animal noises when you ask her what animal makes what noise. And I did make a cute '2nd BIRTHDAY' sign, but I didn't get a pic of it...oh well. She had a great time being with friends and even though she won't remember this birthday, we loved celebrating her. 

^^ beautiful cake made by one of our friends (she made Ellie's cake last year, too!).

Thank you Danika!!

23 weeks

How far along?: 23 weeks! This is the last month in my second trimester and the start of month 6. So amazing we are more than half way through and I am definitely showing more than in my last update (19 weeks).

Movement: Baby girl moves every day, but most of it has been internal - Steven hasn't felt the baby move, yet. She gets the hiccups fairly often still as well. Ellie would get them a ton. The movement constantly makes me grateful for this little life growing inside me.

Total weight gain/loss: I have now gained 5 pounds all together. At my next OB appointment I'm going to ask them to look up my weight at this point when I was pregnant with Ellie. I know for sure I had gained more than this by now, but I have no idea how much...I'm very curious. Don't know how I've gotten this lucky in the weight department because I'm not eating any different than before and I haven't actually worked out. Though, like I said before, having an almost 2 year old keeps me pretty busy and she loves being held, so holding almost 30 pounds worth off and on throughout day is probably helpful ; )

Maternity clothes: 3 out of the 4 pairs of jeans/pants I could wear pre-pregnancy still fit (button still being used). There is one though that's almost uncomfortable, so it probably won't be too much longer and that ratio is going to be 2 out of 4 pairs. More of my normal shirts are getting pushed to their max in the chest and belly region and a few more maternity shirts have made an appearance. I did get two pairs of maternity jeans when I was pregnant with Ellie, but they are still too big for me to wear at this point.

Currently craving: Coffee, ice cream and pizza. I have always loved those things, however I want them more than before!

Anything make you sick or queasy?: I can't think of anything in addition to left over food in containers...

Belly button in or out?: It's mainly flush to my belly, but sometimes it pokes out a little.

Stretch marks?: There may be a couple new ones...I am trying to be diligent with staying hydrated throughout the day and putting lotion on several times a day.

Sleep: I have been forgetting to mention Steven got me a snoogle pregnancy pillow for Christmas and  it's been amazing. It can be so annoying using several pillows to prop and support different areas, and this is helpful in getting comfy faster and easier! My bedtime has seemed to get earlier...before we would try to be in bed by 10:30 pm and now I am usually really tired by 9:30 pm. And I'll be passed out quite fast. Even if I have to get up to use the restroom a time or two during the night, I can fall right back asleep just fine as well. I do get tired around 2:30/3 pm, but Ellie wakes from nap around 3/3:30, so I haven't been napping like I use to.

Feeling: This pregnancy still seems surreal to us most of the time because we are busy taking care of the house and Ellie. When I really think about how it will be later this year, I know it's going to be such a different life. We are really looking forward to the new addition, but also want to savor these last months as a family of 3. Steven and I also want to try and get in plenty of date nights...maybe even some type of "babymoon". Thankfully we still have amazing people to watch Ellie, while Steven and I get a night to ourselves (at least once a month)!

Working on/Thinking about: The nursery! I have gotten a few pieces already and am constantly scouting out more items I want to add. It's nice that we have the space to keep the girls in separate rooms and it makes it even more fun for me to have the chance to decorate another nursery.
And I am always thinking about working out, but I haven't made it an effort at all...one day!

Favorite moment from this week: Nothing has really topped off finding the gender a few weeks ago! Although I did order a set of newborn headbands from a shop called Simple June and I about died when I opened them. They are smaller than any newborn headband I had for Ellie and the thought of holding such a tiny person again made me melt.