Keller's Birthday

Keller's birthday was on Sunday and we had such an awesome day celebrating her!  We started the day with her getting her biggest present upon walking into the family room in the morning.  It was a Step 2 big toy house for her to play in.  She LOVES it!  She must have pushed the doorbell a thousand times : ). After breakfast and present opening, we went to the zoo.  Keller hadn't been there since she was 6 months old, so she was very entertained by some of the animals.  But, to be honest, I think her favorite part was riding the merry-go-round carousel (another first) in the kid's zone.  We rode it twice and she wanted to ride it a third time, but we needed to get home.  She pitched a fit getting off that ride!!  After naps (Mama included!), we had some of our best friends over for dinner and Elmo cake to celebrate.  All of the kids had a blast in the jumpy house and new playhouse out back.  It was perfect weather and so much fun!  Keller was looking forward to her Elmo cake all week.  It was so funny!  Anytime we mentioned that her birthday was coming up, the first thing out of her mouth was "Elmo cake!" with full enthusiasm.  The incredibly sad part is that Jeff recorded her big moment of blowing out her 2 candles on the Elmo cake, but later realized that for some reason the camera didn't record it.  I was so bummed. I still haven't gotten over not having that moment recorded!  I don't even have a picture of the cake that she loved so much!  Ok.  Can't talk about it anymore.  I'm getting worked up.  : )

Anyway, a few things about our sweet girl and then some pictures of our day....

Keller is ALL girl!  She loves to dress up in princess clothes, crowns, jewels, you name it.  Just this morning I went into their playroom and she had about 7 necklaces on.  She also LOVES baby dolls.  Anywhere we go, she will find a baby doll to hold.  She has an American Girl Little Itty Bitty baby with outfits, diaper bag, feeding chair and she has a couple of other dolls that she also loves to baby.  Even her lovey, she calls "BaBa"- short for baby.  She feeds them, changes their diapers, burps them, etc...  It is really cute to watch.  Sadie was never much into dolls, so this is a new thing for me.

Keller is a total snuggle bunny.  She has THE sweetest smile that lights up a room and an infectious laugh that really does brighten your mood.  She loves hugs and kisses and snuggling on the couch.

Keller loves her big sister.  She and Sadie have a great time playing (in between all of their sibling squabbles).  They play princess together, tea party, house, and hide and go seek.  It is SO cute to watch Keller try to count to 10 (Onnnee, twoooo-ooo, fourrrrrrr, siiiiiiiix, teeeeeenn!) - it doesn't give you a whole lot of time to hide!  But she sure does love that game.  She and Sadie hide from Daddy pretty much every day when he gets home from work.  The funniest is going to find Keller and seeing half of her body hanging out from under the bed with only her head actually hiding.  Too cute!  When she and Sadie do get into squabbles and she needs to apologize, Keller leans her head into Sadie's chest and says, "Sawweeyy" and gives her a kiss.  Precious.

Keller loves to read books.  Of course, anything related to Elmo or babies is best, but she also really likes Eric Carlisle's (I think that is how you spell his name) The Hungry Caterpillar and Cricket books.  Her favorite book about babies is one that I picked up from a Homeschooling conference.  It is a collection of Eloise Wilkin's stories and published through Little Golden Books.  It is so cute.  Seriously.  They made some really great books back in the 50s, 60s!  The illustrations in these stories are amazing.

Talking about being all girl, Keller also loves to be massaged.  Ok.  So, this is kinda funny, but it all started when Keller had some really dry skin on her behind.  We started rubbing her back and bottom with lotion every night to relieve the dryness.  Well, it has created a monster!  She now somewhat demands that we rub her back and bottom every night (and morning if we let her get crazy).  And she is very particular about it.  One morning the lotion was out and so I decided to try to just give her a little rub without the lotion.  Well, obviously it wasn't going well because she got off of her belly (massage position), sat up and handed me the lotion and said "GA!" (her word for "Here!!").  It totally cracked me up.

She is also very particular in general.  I hardly ever have to cut her fingernails because she takes care of them herself.  Seriously!  She will have a little snag and will work at it until it is off.  If she has trouble, she will find me to tell me about it and demand that I help her get the snag to be smooth.  She also can tend to get frustrated if she can't get a toy to work the way she wants it to or fit a puzzle piece in the right hole.  She closes drawers that are open and generally likes things tidy.  She will be the one organized one in our family.  Thanks be to God!!  I am going to love having her skills in our home! : )

Lastly, Keller has begun to sing a little bit.  It is so cute to listen to her try to sing "Jesus Loves Me" when I sing it to her every night.  She also sings the "B-I-B-L-E.  Yes, that's the book for me!" song when it plays in our van.  She also loves to pray for her sister, Sadie, and the baby in mommy's tummy.

Now that I have written a novel, here are some pictures of the weekend...

A new booster chair for her American Girl baby

In her new house.  So sad that this pix was a bit blurry.  Her smile is so cute here!

Opening presents

On the merry-go-round

Sadie was not wanting to be very cooperative for pictures!

At the zoo!

Eating her Elmo cake

Picnic fun with her favorite boys and Sadie

 

Anyone need some free PIO?

I found 3 bottles of unopened Progesterone in Oil that I forgot I had while cleaning out my closet tonight. Anyone want it? It expires in August and I hate for it to go to waste! It is in Ethyl Oleate, not sesame or cottonseed oil. The NEDC prescribed this one for me after I had a reaction to the other. The oils are completely interchangeable, so you can use this one even if you started with a different oil. This oil is a little thinner, so less painful over time. Let me know if you want it!

Anatomy Scan

We had our anatomy scan this morning and everything went really well.  Our sweet little girl is 8 oz and looks perfect!  All of our genetic testing came back negative as well, not that we were super concerned about that, but nice to know : )

This second trimester has been going by really quickly.  I feel great for the most part, but still take a nap pretty much every afternoon.  Little girl's kicks are getting much stronger - my favorite part of pregnancy.

I am having a hard time deciding what to do about my OB/midwife.  I may switch to a midwife practice in downtown Atlanta only because they offer water births for women attempting a VBAC.  It is the only practice that does so for VBACS, but I really like the practice I am in as well and they are closer to home.  It would take me like 40-45 minutes to get to the practice downtown, but they are SUPER recommended as THE practice to go to if you want a VBAC.  Decisions, decisions!!  My current midwife is so sweet and told me this morning that she would support me with whatever I decide to do.  I wish so much that we could have the option for a water birth up here in the northern suburbs of Atlanta.

Baby girl Keller is turning 2 this weekend!!!  I can't believe it.  I will have to write another post just about her.  Here little personality has really blossomed and I fall more and more in love with her every day.  She is so sweet and such a little snuggle bunny!  We plan on taking her to the zoo on her actual birthday, which I know she will love.

Re-reading this post - I sound all over the map!  Ha.  Pregnancy brain.  Lots of random thoughts to share....  I have enjoyed keeping up with everyone's posts and praying for you all!!

We are having a....

It looks like we are having another girl!! On the way to the appointment, I asked Sadie if she wanted a little boy or a little girl and she said, "A little girl! One for Keller!" We were kicking around girl names and then I asked her what we would name a little boy and she said (very confidently), "Mama, you aren't having a little boy. You are having a little girl!" Maybe God was trying to tell me to be prepared for the news!
We are excited! It might be crazy drama in our house in a few years. Ha! : )

At the Beach!

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures of our trip while at the beach. We have been having a great time! Last night we ate dinner at this place right on the beach which had a fun playground for the kids while we waited for our meal. I wish all kid-friendly restaurants had that! It was wonderful to be able to sit at our table and just watch them have fun! Here are a couple of pictures taken after our meal.

Beach bums!

Thought you would enjoy this picture of our festivities from today. Jeff took the girls out to the beach after naps and Sadie decided that being buried in the sand would be a good idea : )

On another note.... I've been feeling the baby kick this week! I love, love, love this part of pregnancy!

14 Weeks

I went in a couple of weeks ago for a 12 1/2 week ultrasound to do the chromosomal NT test and bloodwork.  Not that we are too worried about there being any problems, but we would like to be able to prepare emotionally, if there were.  Everything checked out fine so far.  I will get the results from the bloodwork when I go back in on the 25th for.... our gender scan ultrasound!  Woohoo!!  Can't believe we will find out if our little bean is a boy or girl in just a couple of weeks!  My best friend will be in town from England and is coming with us as well.  I am so glad she will be there too.  It will be a lot of fun.  I would love to have a boy just to have something different than our 2 girls, but will be happy either way.  There is some sort of comfort having another girl since we already know girls pretty well : )

OK.  So, my belly is HUGE compared to my last pregnancy with Keller.  Seriously, people.  Kinda nervous.  I was already close to 10 pounds heavier when I started the pregnancy and I was STARVING for the first 7 weeks of this pregnancy and ate every few hours.  I also tended to eat more with the queasiness because it made me feel a little better.  So, I have gained a good bit of weight already.  We need to slow this train down!!!  Check out my 18 week belly from my last pregnancy (on the top) and my 12 week belly from this pregnancy (on the bottom).  A little scared.  : )

On other news... my fatigue and hormonal craziness and queasiness are pretty much totally gone.  I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am.  Honestly, I felt so incredibly horrible that I wasn't even enjoying being pregnant this time around and began to question our decision to try for another pregnancy.  I think the physical issues started playing with my emotions horribly and I began to question getting pregnant again at my age, etc...  It was a horrible place to be.  Jeff would come home around 4:30pm after work and would literally have to take over the kids, dinner, and putting the kids to sleep while I stayed in my bed.  This schedule went on for a couple of weeks solid and then for another couple of weeks it would be intermittent.  Sadie started acting out because she didn't have her mama anymore at night and one night cried to me about how I was so sick and taking shots (while I was on PIO) and couldn't play with her anymore.  It was a difficult first trimester to say the least.  I hesitate even sharing these feelings with you just because I know there are many out there who would take all of that to be pregnant in a heartbeat!!  And I feel the same way!  But, it is amazing how my physical well being played such a number on my emotions.  I felt like I was in a dark cloud of sorts.  So, please know that I am just sharing from the hormonal cloud I was in.  Everything turned around for me during my 12th week. I began to feel like myself again and could take care of my girls the way I wanted to and play and read to them before bed.  And, I could take care of my sweet hubby again!  And then when I went into the OB and saw our little bean again at 12 1/2 weeks for the U/S, I fell madly in love and was SO VERY excited to be preggo again!  I can't tell you what a relief it is!!  Here is a picture of our cutie pie during that ultrasound...

I think that is it for now!  We are heading to the beach this Saturday for a week with my parents.  Can't wait for some sun and sand!  Although, I am not really looking forward to getting into a suit in my state : )  I still don't look super pregnant in a suit.  I just look like I ate one pie too many.  Ha!!
Happy Spring!!!