Another Picture Post

So this was supposed to post on the 22nd, but didn't and I'm not really sure why!  So to tide you over until I can get an actual Christmas post up, here are some pictures of my adorable little girl...

She would re-decorate the tree every night if I let her.

Lilli makes cookies!

Ok, really she just played with the flour after like 2 dough roll outs.

She really did enjoy frosting though!

She just loves the cozy stockings!

And she loves talking to Santa!  She was so excited for him to read her a book, but when he was finally working, she didn't want to hear it!

She insisted on dressing like a "inja"

Those are snowflake stocking on her head and tied in a not, and my bathrobe belt around her waist.

She sang "I'm a inja, I'm a inja" while watching herself dance in front of the mirror.





This Christmas

I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be one for the books...

First Lillian is totally getting the Santa concept.  She even went up to him at the mall and told him she has been a good girl and wanted toys for Christmas.  Nothing specific, just toys (good for me right?).  This morning on the way to the sitter she was telling me "Santa will bring me toys and I will go to bed like a good girl.  Then I can open the presents when you say I can."  I have been very impressed with her minimal fits about not being able to open the gifts under the tree.

This Christmas could also bring on temper tantrums and fits of epic proportions.  On Christmas eve the plan is for Lillian to wrap her binkies in a gift bag and leave them for Santa to take back to the "Pole" in exchange for her presents.  I'm actually kind of liking the idea of Lillian giving Santa a present every year.

Anyway, right now she uses 2 binkies, one in her

mouth and the other she rubs on her face, to fall asleep.  Of course this is only at night because during the day she doesn't have binkies at the sitter's.   What I'm worried about is Christmas night when the excitement of presents is gone and she is going to bed with no binkies.  What I did was get a Pooh stuffed animal and I sewed part of a binkie nipple to each of his hands.  At least this way she can still have something to rub on her face and I figure eventually she will give that up.  I don't mind a ratty stuffed animal as much as I do a binkie hanging out of her mouth.  I don't plan on giving this to her unless there is melt down on Christmas night though.  If there isn't and we can get away with nothing, I will remove the binkies and give her the Pooh bear when her baby sister arrives.

Speaking of her baby sister... less than 75 days left!!!  Oh and my MIL casually mentioned at bowling last night that she thinks she wants to throw me a shower at the end of January.  This has me rather excited.  After not having the gender reveal party I was disappointed to not be having a shower, but I'm not one to throw one for myself or ask some one else to do it for me.  I guess we'll see what happens.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday!

2011 Family Pictures

I think we have a future model on our hands. When we were finished she asked if she could do it again!

29 Weeks!

Wow! 29 Weeks I can't believe just after Christmas I'm going to be 30 weeks, which means (fingers crossed) I have less that 10 weeks before baby girl is here!  In a strange way, while it is completely real to me that I'm pregnant (really how can it not be with a huge belly, kicks and contractions), it still doesn't seem real to me that I'm going be holding another little baby girl soon.

I also can't believe that I haven't posted in 2 weeks.  I've written many posts in my head about so many things that I can't even remember, but when it comes to sitting down and typing them out, I just don't seem to have the energy :(

Last week was nice and exciting.  Both Wednesday and Friday I had to leave work early due to contractions.  Thankfully both times relaxing and not doing anything helped and the contractions slowed and eventually went away.

Saturday Lillian and I spent the day with Aunt Pocca baking and frosting cookies.  I have to say, I was very impressed with how well Lillian did considering a 2 year old's attention span.  While I only had a few contractions that day, I did have several sharp pains and the few contractions I had were actually painful.  Sunday thankfully was less eventful in my uterus, but the top had a bruised feeling again and her lack of movement had me a little worried.

By Monday afternoon I was feeling better.

So for today, here is my 29 week pic.  Maybe for the next day or 2 I'll get some great pictures I've gotten of Lillian lately.

 

27 Weeks

Seems hard to believe some days that it's already been 27 weeks! At times it still doesn't seem real that I will be holding another baby girl of my own in just a few short months.  I really can't wait to meet her.  She has me very confused on her personality.  She will kick up a storm and squirm around for a few days and then it's like she just stops for a day or two.  Obviously not completely, that would send me rushing to the hospital in a panic, but she stops enough for me to start to worry.  And her kicks become so light it's like the first feelings of movement again.  I've also noticed she seems to be more active at night, which gives me the feeling that unlike Lillian who was very good with her days and nights, this little girl is going to have them confused.  Only time will tell!!!

Right now I feel like I'm struggling with my weight and emotionally it's killing me.  I hate how I feel about myself which makes me want to eat my favorite comfort foods, but I know that these comfort foods are just going to make me gain even more weight and feel even worse.  Simple solution, don't eat comfort foods right?  Yeah well any emotional eater can tell you that's a heck of a lot easier said than done.  So this is me this week (with 28 extra lbs on):

And here's what's going on with baby girl:

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

Sick Little Girl

My poor girl woke up in the night last night and cried out as she has been doing nightly for weeks now. Like most nights I rolled over and woke B up.  He met her half way between our room and her room and picked her up to go back to her room, when he all of a sudden realized she had puked all over herself.  My poor baby was scared.  He brought her to me who's first thought was "she isn't supposed to come into our bed" until he pointed out she was sick.  She was shaking and trying to find the words to tell me what happened.  "Mommy, my tummy hurts, I spit."  So after stripping her down, making sure the rest of her was clean, changing the diaper and attempting to take a temperature, I wrapped her up in towels and put her "Choo-Choo All Aboard" movie in (that's the Polar Express for those who are wondering).  Daddy was nice and cleaned up her bed and then slept on the couch so that mommy could stay with her.  She got sick 3 more times between then and 6am, but not nearly as bad as that first time.

It was very hard to leave her with daddy at 11:30 to come into work for a half day, but she seemed to be feeling much better and hadn't been sick since eating some frosted.mini.wheats.  She still wanted to cuddle with mommy though and I felt bad having to tell her no.  And just before I left she said her belly hurt and asked for ice.  It was too cute.  When I left her and daddy were cuddled up on the couch watching Home.Alone for the millionth time this season.

30 Days Of Thankful - Day 30

Well, I didn't do as well as I thought I would at posting daily, but today, that is what I'm going to be thankful for.  I am thankful that I am not so caught up in social media that I feel the need to post here or on FB every day.  I do have a twitter account, but pretty much never use it.

Today I also want to share a few of the things Lillian is doing that I just love!

• She says "silly goofy" instead of "silly goose"
• If I lay down with her at night she cuddles right up and puts her arm up on my shoulder
• The way she talks to my belly and hugs it
• The stories she tells are amazing
• Her imagination can turn a simple bath basket into 5 different things in a matter of minutes
• And if we let her, not one branch on the Christmas tree would be lacking an ornament.

A sweet Reminder

Double Digits!

That's right, the tickers are down to double digits now!  99 Days!  14 Weeks!!  3 Months!!!

So many feelings about those numbers: excited, nervous, anxious, and there's another one that I just don't know what to call it.

I'm so excited to have a little baby girl to hold and care for again.

I'm extremely nervous about how Lillian is going to react to me having to give so much time and attention to some one else.

I'm anxious to get the house, particularly her bedroom done.

And this other feeling comes at night when it's time for Lillian to go to bed.  It's that overwhelming feeling of love I get in my heart that almost hurts and makes me cry.  It's not a sad cry, but it's certainly not a happy cry either.  I used to get it when she was first born too.  Like a separation anxiety or something.  I've been trying so hard to let B do bed time cause he will have to when the baby arrives and to let him be the one to go to her when she wakes up.  But it's hard.  I want to be there for her, but I know that I won't always be able to be there once the baby gets here and I don't want her to resent her sister for that so I'm trying to back off now.  But it hurts :(

A Quickie Today

Today's post is going to be short and sweet for 2 reasons.

1. The post I'm about to link to is soooo true! Only Lillian started at 2 1/2.
2. I'm starving already and want my damn breakfast!

So here you have it. Top 10 Reasons Why 3 is Worse Than 2!

PS - It's 50/50 on behavior with Lillian 50% of the time she's an amazing angel and the other 50% of the time she is a terror, there is no in between!

Didn't Take Long!

For me to fall off the "blog a day" bandwagon!  I wish I had a great excuse, but I don't have a great one, just lots of little ones.  Mostly, I just haven't felt like it.  I've had lots running through my head, but I'm not sure I want any of it out there to be found.

As for the 30 Days of Thankful, I have thought about it every day.  Some days I've even posted on FB.  I've been thankful for being able to meet my brother and his family, thankful to have a wonderful loving husband at home waiting for me, thankful that my little girl is an AWESOME traveler!  And more recently thankful to have clothes on my back, shoes on my feet and a warm place to lay my head.  All too often we forget about those little ones out there that don't have that.

Yesterday after realizing BRU was having a great 8hr sale online for bedding we decided on a set!!!  Well actually Lillian decided for us because we just couldn't.  Here's what we got...

And we got it for $80 off!!!  Granted I had to order 3 accessories with it, but I would have bought them anyway, so why not get the $80 off right?  Plus now I can tell people what to get us for Christmas!

I hope everyone is well!

30 Days of Thankful - Day 9

I am thankful for those little moments that make you smile.

This morning on the way to the sitter I asked Lillian what she wanted for Christmas.  This is the conversation that followed:

Lillian: I'm getting a car!
Me: Mommy can't even get a car.
Lillian: I want a motorcycle then!

I hate to think about what she's going to ask for when she's 16!

It's these little moments though that you can't help buy smile and be reminded of the innocence in the world.  Lillian has little conversations all the time that just amaze me!

And more with Lillian is that her potty training is going pretty well.  I know it sounds like the same thing over and over and it feels like it is most the time, but I take the little victories when I can.  This weekend she went to the bathroom and pooped all by herself, on the big potty, while I was switching wash!  Any potty training parent knows that then doing something like that WITHOUT HELP is a huge step!

And because I haven't posted a pic of my belly in a while, here's this weeks and a comparison...

19 Weeks

23 weeks

23 Weeks w Lillian

  I have to say that although to me my ass currently feels huge, I don't think it's as huge as it was with Lillian at this point.





 

30 Days of Thankful - Day 8

I'm thankful for upcoming adventures! Thursday night Lillian and I leave with my father to go meet my half brother for the first time!  I have known about my brother for a long time, he is 5 years younger than me.  My father has also never met him, so this could be a very interesting trip.  I think we are all a little nervous and excited about this trip.  I think what I'm most nervous about though is riding in the car with my father for 12 hours!  I don't think we've ever spent that much time in the same house together, let alone in a car, just the two of us.  Well Lilli will be there too, but you get what I'm saying.  On the way there we will be driving over night and since Lilli will be with us he understands and suggests that I sleep while I can.  We will be driving home Sunday during the day though so we'll see how things go I guess.

In other news I'm 23 weeks today!  Seems hard to believe, only 4 weeks until the 3rd trimester!  It amazes me that she will be starting to swallow this week so the hiccups will be beginning.  It still seems a little odd to me how little I feel her moving, but I do feel her moving for a few minutes at least twice a day.  Mostly at night when we are settling down for bed and also in the morning on my way to work or when I first get there.  I can't wait until I can start to see my belly move!

I think we have decided on a first name!  I'm not yet sure if I want to share it.  We don't plan on sharing it with the family until she arrives and I'm not sure I want to chance it getting out there.

30 Days of Thankful - Days 5, 6 & 7

Yes I know I promised to do 30 days and I have posted every day on Facebook what I'm thankful for.

Day 5: Very thankful for a Date Night with my hubby. As much as I hate leaving Lillian, it was some much needed time for adult conversation. The next day I was feeling emotionally better than I have felt in weeks and my patience limit seemed to be a little higher too!

Day 6: The Sunshine! Living in NY you have to be thankful for all the Sunshine you can get this time of year. While we didn't go out and enjoy it, it did keep me motivated to get some house cleaning and laundry done. Sunshine gives you energy!

Day 7: Today I am thankful for change. Change can be scary, but it happens all the time. Some times it's quick and other times it happens over a long time. The thing is, most of the time change is for the better. Right now I am most thankful for the changes that have happened over time in B, myself and our relationship.

30 Day of Thankful - Day 4

Today hasn't been so easy to decide on what I am going to remind myself of what I'm thankful for. Yesterday was a very emotional and frustrating day. But this morning as I was getting around for the day and reflecting on yesterday, I knew exactly what to be thankful for... My friends and their support.

Today I want to be thankful for all my friends, the friends that live in my computer, the friends that live near by and the friends that live across the country.  I'm thankful for their support and willingness to support me in my times of ups and downs.  For being there when I'm right and when I'm wrong, and for not judging me for the mistakes I've made.

And I'm extra thankful for the ones that are there when there is really nothing they can say or do to change the situation or how I'm feeling, but they try anyway.  I may seem hopeless at the time, but all the kind words of encouragement really pull me through.

30 Days of Thankful - Day 2 and 3

So it hit me this morning that I started this a day behind, surprised? I didn't think so!  So, today I'm going to do 2 and be caught up.

The first thing I'm going to be thankful for is my home.  More specifically, my home that has a working furnace again!  We went a week without a working furnace.  Thankfully we have a space heater that did a great job of keeping us warm.  Especially considering that the day the furnace quit working, this is what the house looked like:

The second thing I'm thankful for today is my job.  This is mostly because at this moment I need to remind myself I need to be thankful for this.  I could have a toddler and a baby on the way and be trying to live on a laborer's pay.  I got to work this morning to find that a worker threw away my samples I need for testing.  Partially my fault because I am behind on submitting the samples for testing, but there are several reasons not to throw away samples!  For Heaven's sake we don't even throw away samples for years after they have been tested!  She said "They were in the way."  Ugh.  But I am grateful to be hear and have to deal with this since it could be a lot worse than just needing to find samples.

Borrowing an Idea

Well I guess really it's more like stealing since I can't really give it back.  Ashley over at More Than Dog Children is doing a 30 Days of Thankful and I think it's a great idea and just what I need right now. 

Today I'm thankful for my little girl, who isn't so little any more!  She had her 2.5 year well child visit last week and when the receptionist said "we won't need to see her again until she's 3" it hit me that it's only 6 months away!  For so long 3 has seemed like this number way off in the distance and now it seems like it's speeding at me like a bullet.  But my big girl is healthy and very smart according to the Doctor.  And she amazed the crap out of me when she came to me with her sweatshirt zipped the other day.  Yes, my 2.5 year old started the zipper herself for the first time!  Potty training is going fairly well.  It's taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but I appreciate the good days and try to forget the bad days.

Not much in the way of a pregnancy update.  I'm 22 weeks now, so hopefully on 16 or so more to go, but I'll figure on 19 and try not to get my hopes up too high.  I'm getting very frustrated with my weight gain and I'm considering giving up trying to watch what I eat.  What's the point of depriving myself of comforts when it's not doing me much good anyway?  Hopefully this last week of trying will give me confidence.

I'm feeling baby girl move more and more and that's comforting.  I can't wait for Lillian to be able to feel it.  I love that she rubs and kisses my belly.  And it's just too cute when she looks in my belly button and says "yup, she's still in there."



Passing Time

It almost feels like time is passing without my knowledge.  How did I get to 21 weeks already?  Things feel so emotionally different this time.  I feel kind of detached or something.  I feel so busy with every day life that I don't have the time to enjoy being pregnant, but that has me wondering, what did I "enjoy" so much last time.

I've started freaking out about picking a name, I have this feeling I will bond better if I have something to call her other than Baby Girl.  Problem is I don't know if I like any of the names.  I went through the entire girls name list on babynames.com and came up with a list of about 30 names to consider.  I've narrowed it down to 15 or so and I think I have a top 5 out of that, but not a one of them has a middle name and my brain feels like mush trying to think of one.

Then this week it hit me.  I have 19 weeks, if I make it to 40 weeks this time.  Since I work full time that pretty much leaves me 19 weekends, which is 38 days to prepare my house for this baby girl.  Considering I have a trip the weekend of Nov 11th, family visiting Nov 10th and 26th weekends and pretty much every weekend in Dec busy due to Holidays, I'm down to only 11 weekends and when you subtract 3 more so every thing is ready by 37 weeks, just in case, I'm down to 8 weekend, that's 16 days!!!  Granted I try and sneak things in here and there, but some of the work will be a whole weekend project, like cleaning my craft and other stuff out of her room and painting and such.  So I finally started looking at bedding this week and realized that I have no idea what I want!

But besides this stress I'm going through now in an effort to not have anxiety later, everything seems to be going well.  Here are some new ultrasound pictures that I got last week when we went back to get her heart and profile views.