I’ve most definitely entered the honeymoon phase of pregnancy.  I feel some energy coming back and I’m feeling better over all.  Don’t get me wrong, I still take my Zofran from time to time and acid reducers and my heating pad are my new-found friends, but those are minor things I can deal with.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think this little one might be a bit more feisty than Amelia…uh oh!  I’m feeling steady kicks throughout the day, even when I’m walking, doing dishes, etc.  Dustin continues to get kicked in the face each evening when he lays on my belly. We’re enjoying getting to know our little one’s movements and having time to bond with him/her.

Amelia is now telling everyone that she has a baby in her tummy, she’s a confused little pumpkin.  Hopefully my belly will pop soon so she’ll be able to see the changes in mommy. My belly is popping a little, but not as much as it seems other people pop at 18 weeks, that’s what happens when you have a long torso.  I look a LOT more pregnant in the evenings after I’ve eaten all day.  I’ve only gained 5lbs…yay!  By this point with Amelia I had gained 15-18ish pounds and those were the hardest pounds to lose so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.

I’m feeling good and I’m so grateful that I am able to enjoy this pregnancy, this blessing. I am going in late next week for my 20 week ultrasound and will be back at the OB on the 23rd.  I’ll update as we learn things about this little one.

Amelia and I were getting ready to head out for a day of fun and I started feeling ill.  I told Amelia that I was’t feeling well, that my tummy hurt and we would have to stay home.  She said “I’ll make you feel better.”  She promptly went into her bathroom and got her body lotion.  She came back to me, lifted my shirt and proceeded to rub lotion on my tummy.  She did indeed make me feel better.

I love this child!

As you probably already know I’m a part of a MOPS group (Mother’s of Preschoolers) here in the Spring area and I love it.  Every year we have a fundraiser which helps support our MOPS group as well as our community outreach programs.  We’re working with the Shell Houston Open this year to raise money.  The fabulous part is that 100% of the pledges/donations go to our MOPS group, yay!

Birdies for Charity is structured so that you donate a certain amount of money per birdie made during the course of the 5 days of the Shell Houston Open.  Last year over 1700 birdies were made during the tournament.  So, if you pledge to donate $.01 per birdie that would equal a $17.00 donation.  If you pledge $.05 per birdie then that equals to an $85 donation.  You can pledge whatever amount you want per birdie or make a flat donation.

One awesome part of Birdies for Charity is that for a $.01/birdie pledge you get one guess at the total number of birdies to be made during the tournament.  The number of guesses you get goes up depending upon what you pledge.  The person who guesses the exact number of birdies will win a CAR!  There area also other incentives such as free passes, exclusive tent access, etc. for different pledge levels.

Only pledges are made at this time.  After the Shell Houston Open is completed they’ll send a statement to you and payment can be made at that time…and yes, it’s tax deductible!

If you would like me to mail a brochure to you please let me know and I’ll get it off to you this week!  Thanks!

I got to see baby two (the Bean) on Tuesday.  S/he looks GREAT!  The placenta is still too low, but we’re hoping it will move up soon.  We’ll go to the perinatologist for a level II ultrasound in mid-February and back to the OB in late February for our next appointment.  This next ultrasound is the BIG one!  It’s the one where we would find out the gender if we were finding out and it’s a really long one so we get to see the baby a lot that day, yay!

On Monday 1/25 I felt the baby kick from the outside for the first time, at only 15.5 weeks pregnant!  I’ve been feeling twitches for over a month and little kicks for two weeks prior, but I was surprised to feel kicks from the outside so early.  I didn’t feel them with Amelia until 17.5 weeks.  On Friday, 1/29 Dustin felt the baby kick for the first time and then last night, Saturday, 1/30 the baby kicked him in the head when he was laying on my belly.  We’re both over the moon and enjoying our little one.

This pregnancy is flying by!  The first trimester was a bit slower than I remember it being last time, but I’m almost a month into my second trimester already, eek!

We ordered Amelia’s big girl furniture yesterday so we have 6-8 weeks to prep the nursery for Amelia’s furniture and get Amelia’s room ready for a big conversion.  Fun stuff!  Now I just need to figure out the decor for both rooms.

Here’s the latest picture of the bean…

We had Amelia’s 2 year appointment on 1/22…yes I know 25 months is a bit late for a 24 month appointment, but that’s the best this pregnant mommy could do!

She’s 23lbs (10th percentile)

She’s 34″ tall (50th percentile)

And her noggin is 49cm (80th percentile…big head to hold all of those brains!)

Amelia is sassy and silly as ever.  Yesterday she said to us in the car “knock it off you guys!”  Where she comes up with this stuff I don’t know.

Amelia says:

“Oh Mylanta” (yes she learned it from me)

Randomly in the car she said “Daddy, what are you talking about?  That’s ridiculous!” and “knock it off you guys!”

When daddy was climbing the playground and was clearly too high she said “Get down from there Daddy, do you hear me?”

Dustin and I were in the kitchen talking about getting the toy bins out and sorting through, purging things that are too young for Amelia and getting out new toys, etc.  Amelia calls in from the family room “that’s a great idea.”

Amelia loves brushing her teeth and she does it about 5 times a day.  She got a new toothbrush recently and exclaimed “that’s cool” upon seeing it.

After brushing her teeth we went into Amelia’s room to find that daddy had set up a tea party and Amelia shrieked with delight.  Amelia was serving us our first cups of tea and put daddy’s requested 8 scoops of “sugar” into his cup, then she gave mommy the one scoop she requested and then it was Amelia’s turn, she went to scoop but then decided to pick up the sugar bowl and pour all of it into her cup…she is most definitely daddy’s little girl with a big sweet tooth.

Amelia is 2, she is most definitely 2.  She tries every bit of patience we have, but she rewards us with so many kisses, hugs and bits of 2 year old splendor that she is forgiven for all of her faults.  Life with a 2 year old is busy, exhausting, fun and crazy!

Amelia and I are just finishing up our lunch together and she starts talking.  I look at her and her hands are clasped in front of her all covered in peanut butter and jelly and she’s saying “God is great, God is good and we thank him for our food.”  It’s her first prayer and her mommy is proud.

First there was Santa with a big *BLING* Santa belt…She’s milking it with her one tear.

Then cookie baking with Mommy where Amelia used every single decorative item we had on a whopping 18 cookies….

Christmas Eve Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and opening a few presents…

Christmas day at home…

It was a perfect Christmas.  Hope your Christmas was as Merry and Bright! For the full gallery of pictures from Christmas click here.

The hormones of pregnancy have hit.  I remember them hitting me around 10 weeks with Amelia…hey, I made it two extra weeks with this one before they hit…but they’ve hit harder this time.

With Amelia my first sappy moment came when I heard a Kroger ad on the radio.  They were thanking all of the families of those serving for their sacrifices and wishing them a Happy Memorial Day.  I lost it in the car.

We were watching Up this afternoon and while I’ve seen most of the movie before, I never saw the first 15 minutes.  It’s so sweet and so sad, it makes me think of my love for Dustin and well you know the tears started flowing shortly thereafter.

I heard not great news from 3 friends in the last 24 hours and each time I’ve gotten emotional.  I heard GREAT news from two friends this week and of course I got emotional (congrats again you guys!).  I read a sad story and I tear up, I see an ad on tv that’s sweet and I tear up, my sweet Amelia tells me that she loves me and I tear up.

I think being a mom has made me more sappy and being a pregnant mom has made me a complete mushy mess!  I’m waiting for something completely silly to hit me and for me to lose it, say when I’m buying bananas and they don’t have any ripe enough. Or maybe when I want to wear a certain pair of comfy stretchy pants but they’re in the washing machine soaking wet.  Speaking of, I am thankfully not wearing stretchy maternity clothes yet.  My belly is most definitely popping and by the end of the day I look like I did when I was about 18 weeks with Amelia, but on a good day I just look like I had too many cookies at Christmas.  Thanks to my morning (rather all day) sickness I haven’t gained any weight so far, yay!  Nope, no belly pictures yet, I’ll save those for when I clearly look pregnant.

A very Happy New Year to all!  I hope 2010 is a year full of health, wealth, love, kisses and hugs and most of all happiness for you and yours.

We had a follow-up ultrasound today to check the status of the hemorrhage and it’s no longer visible!  YAY!!! That week of bed rest did my body and the baby a lot of good.  I’m still on restricted activity, but I can step things up a little bit.  We didn’t tell my OB, but I’ve already stepped things up a bit taking a few sessions and doing things around the house.

What a difference two weeks makes!  The baby is measuring ahead and has a heart rate of 153BPM.  We got to see him/her sucking their thumb…you can see it in one of the ultrasounds below.

Now for the not so great news of the day.  Because I’ve had early ultrasounds my doctor was able to identify early indicators of placenta previa.  I’ve been having intermittent back pain the last few days that reminded me of being in early labor with Amelia.  I thought it was odd, but didn’t think much of it.  I thought maybe I had a UTI or it was just a weird new symptom of this pregnancy….nope, they’re contractions and pretty uncomfy ones at that.

Placenta previa is when the placenta grows either partially or completely on top of the cervical opening.  Unfortunately my little one and the placenta decided to take up residence right next to my cervix.  At the moment there aren’t any major concerns, but if the placenta doesn’t migrate north then I’ll likely face more bed rest, possible pre-term labor and a definite c-section.

A LOT can change and I am determined that it will change.  We’re hopeful that the munchkin will migrate higher in my uterus in the next few months and we’ll have another vaginal delivery in early July.  Please pray for these changes.

I jokingly said before Christmas that I wanted just one more ultrasound other than the 20 week ultrasound. I wanted to see my little one just once more.  Well, we’re 12 weeks in and we’ve seen the baby 5 times, should have only seen the baby 1 time by now.  I will now be monitored and will have ultrasounds every 4 weeks for the duration of my pregnancy…or at least until the placenta previa is resolved.  Be very careful what you wish for.  My wish for one more ultrasound has unfortunately turned into many more…and many more fears and prayers.

One really awesome part…I know without any doubt that I’m feeling the baby move.  I can feel little movements and the baby rolling over.  I LOVE this part of pregnancy, I am so blessed to be able to do this again.

My next appointment is in late January, I’ll be 16 weeks and have to do the icky glucose test (I’ll do it again at 26-28 weeks too).  On the plus side we’ll most definitely have a wiggly baby hanging out in my tummy that morning.

He/she was VERY sleepy and despite the technician bouncing my tummy up and down the little one wouldn’t stir.  Sleepy babies make for good pictures though.  So, here’s our “boring baby” (yes that’s what the technician called the baby). So cute!

My conversation with Amelia this evening while I was laying down resting.

Amelia: Mommy, wake up

Mommy: no, I’m sleepy

Amelia: why?

Mommy: because I’m resting

Amelia: why?

Mommy: because my tummy hurts

Amelia: why?

Mommy: because I’m have a tummy ache

Amelia: why?

Mommy: because I’m pregnant

Amelia: why?

We stopped the back and forth right there.  I thought that “why?” was a 4 year old thing.  This kiddo is too smart!