Baby Shower for Baby Number Two

It's really starting to feel like my days as a mama to just this...

...are coming to an end.  We spent the weekend getting the house cleaned, rearranging our room to fit the pack n' play, pulling out swaddle blankets, monitor pieces, burp clothes, etc.  And when I say "we," I really mean Darin. He was amazing on Saturday and deserves all the credit in the world for scratching everything off the to-do list while I was out enjoying some solo shopping time and a friends baby shower. The to-do list was really for both of us, but he took charge and got it done (including checking to make sure we had all the breast pump pieces and that it still worked...he won't let me post the picture of him testing it out to see that it still worked, but seriously, he was on top of it all on Saturday).

I finished my babysitting job about a week ago, so lately it has just been me and Shae at home. I'm really trying to enjoy these last few weeks of just me and him. It's so crazy to think that he'll be a brother, that I'll be a mom-of-two, that it won't just be the two of us at home anymore. I imagine it will be a pretty rough transition for him...maybe me too...so I'm just going to keep on soaking in our reading time, play dough time, movie time, outside time, etc. until this little girl decides to pop out (and maybe I'll even try not to get TOO frustrated when he throws a kicking and screaming tantrum in the middle of story time, or poops his pants, or jumps up and down in his crib for an hour instead of taking a nap :).

Some awesome ladies threw me a baby shower the Saturday before last, which also made this baby-thing feel that much more real.  Having a baby girl right around Valentine's Day made decorating easy. Everything was pink and heart shaped. I guess this is what having a baby girl feels like.

I'm not a huge cake fan, but this cake was AWESOME. It was super moist and had a subtle almond flavor that was delicious. Mmmmm...wish I could have a piece right now.

Sister Richey was so sweet to open her home to all of us.

We played some fun games where Sara M. kicked our butts because she is just a word woman and can do things like that (don't play boggle with her unless you are okay losing, trust me).

I received some wonderful gifts. Especially loved this towel that Sarah L. made for me and the Williamsburg onsie that Alejandra made.

Shae was pretty happy about this book.

So nice to see this girl after so long. I miss her a lot in Young Womens. Gotta love this awkward where-do-i-put-my-belly hug.

Love these ladies for being kind enough to throw me a shower. They're the best.

And love all these ladies for loving me enough to come! I am so blessed!

Pregnancy Update

I've done a horrendous job at documenting anything about this pregnancy. I've barely taken any pictures. The past few weeks I've tried to remember to take some, so let's just consider this my official pregnancy numero dos update.

19 Weeks...so funny to look back to this. I remember feeling so fat here...

~1st Trimester was very similar to my first pregnancy. Exhaustion. Nausea. The nausea would go away for a bit if I ate something, so I felt like I was constantly snacking. I threw up about five times, all after/during poopy diaper changes. Stinky smells, I could not handle them. That was the same with Shae's pregnancy, except I was not changing poopy diapers then. That complicated things a bit this time around.

~I felt the baby move much sooner this time around, at about 16/17 weeks I started to notice movement.

~I was sure we were having a boy until my 12 week ultrasound. The tech said that she was 80% sure it was a girl. From that moment on I still suspected that we were having a boy, but I started to really WANT a girl.

28 Weeks

~2nd trimester was awesome. I felt great. High Energy. No nausea. I went running a few times a week in preparation for our Thanksgiving 5K (which turns out to be the last time I went running...)

~I transferred care providers and am now seeing a group of midwives up in Richmond. I really did not like my birth experience/recovery with Shae AT ALL so we're gonna try things a bit differently this time. Maybe I'll love it, maybe I'll hate it. Only time will tell. 

32 Weeks

~3rd trimester pretty much sucks. It sucked during my 1st pregnancy and is sucking it up again. Man, it's uncomfortable. Pelvic pressure is whipping me. I didn't have that with Shae until the very end but it's been pretty bad down yonder for a few months now. Sleeping is rough. It's so hard to get comfortable and then to stay asleep when I am comfortable.

~One of the worst things with Shae's pregnancy was the numbness in my hands. Thankfully, that hasn't happened, yet. I still have a few more weeks to go so I'm not banking on it not happening, but grateful that it hasn't happened yet.

~With Shae I was super hot for months. Driving up to Idaho for Christmas, I rolled down my window in the freezing cold because I was so hot. I kept our house at 60 degrees all winter (poor poor Darin). That is just now kicking in this pregnancy. Lucky for Darin, we have Shae, so I won't let him freeze like I let Darin freeze, but I be REAL hot at times.

34 Weeks

~I never really had any cravings with Shae. This time around I've been craving Blue Bell ice cream (not a ton, but usually I'd take a baked good over ice cream. Not these days).  Also, within the past week I've really been craving Cherry Coke, like, to the point where Darin has gone out to get me some. I've never sent him out to get me anything before (pregnancy-craving-related that is), but he's gone out to get Coke and Ice Cream for me within the past few weeks. Of course he benefits from this as well, so no complaining on his part.

35 Weeks

~I gained 60 lbs. with Shae. Not proud of it, but it's the cold hard truth. I'm right about at 40 lbs. weight gain this time around...with some weeks to go...

~I had TONS of heartburn with Shae. I get it occasionally, but not nearly as often. However, I constantly feel like I can't breathe this time around and that my ribs are breaking because this little girl keeps pushing up.

36 Weeks

Last night we went up to Richmond and did a tour of the Labor & Delivery/recovery areas. I loved every second of it. I'm getting excited for labor. I feel so much more excited to meet our baby this time than I did the first. The first time I was excited because it was all new and I did not know what to expect, but this time I feel different. I feel like now that I have Shae, I know what a new baby will bring into our lives (the good AND the bad), but really I'm just excited to see HER, to hold HER, just to meet my daughter in general.

Let's do this.

The End

Let me just wrap up our Christmas vacation...a month later...

While out west, Darin and I took advantage of being so close to the temple and went twice. We went to Idaho Falls our first week there and Boise our second (which is a new temple for me!).

 It looks just like the Buenos Aires temple! Which is pretty cool to me for obvious reasons.

 We hung out in Poky for a few more days before heading back down to Utah. We went to Wyatt's baby blessing on Sunday. It was really nice to spend Sunday with family, and to meet Anna's family who are a blast. Grandma Sharon gave Shae some play dough, which he LOVED (and still does. He knows exactly where it is and pulls it out every. single. day. Usually multiple times).

 We made sure to take advantage of the Idaho snow, since we knew we probably wouldn't be seeing much snow in Virginia.

The day before we flew out, we went down to Provo for a basketball game. We of course had to visit campus...and Slab Pizza.

Poor Shae had been having some stomach issues that really went wild at the Wilkinson Center. It's been a LONG time since he pooped through an outfit, but it happened right here on our old stomping grounds. Thankfully his grandma was nice enough to go buy him a new shirt. (Pretty happy for just having had the worst diarrhea of his life. Oh if we only acted as children do when we're sick).

Going over the fight song one last time before going to the game.

 Then off to the Marriott Center we went. Shae was really good for the game. Towards the end we had to go out and walk around a bit, but he seemed pretty entertained with all the excitement. The best part of the game had to be watching our nephew Kyler throw out some of the greatest dance moves known to man.

 The next morning it was back to the airport. Our flight in Denver was delayed three hours so we had a good long time to hang out there. We were SO thankful that Shae finally fell asleep. He really needed it.

When we got on the plane, we continued to make our way all the way to the back of the plane. We quickly realized that we were going to be sitting in the very last row. I was not very happy about that (no recline at all!), until people slowly stopped boarding the plane and we realized that the open seat in our row, was just that, an extra seat! Hallelujah! Having a seat for Shae to sit in/play in was GREAT. I would take that over a reclining chair any day. Although, he obviously didn't want to sit in the chair the entire time...

We had such a great time on our vacation. Our family is awesome. Period. It was great to be with them. Shae mentions them at least once a day now. I'm so glad that he was able to really establish them as a part of his life as he slowly understands relationships better. We can't wait to see Gan-ma Sharon and Aunt Mee-a again so soon when the baby comes (and my family too!).

3rd Christmas

We spent our third, and actual, Christmas in Caldwell. Christmas Eve was spent chowing down on delicious food and relaxing after the fun day in the snow.  After stuffing stockings and eating Santa's cookies, we stayed up far too late playing Password and super-intense-crazy-Uno. If the kids only knew what we did after they went to bed...

 Shae was excited to finally open the presents that he had been told not to touch for so long. However, his excitement only lasted for a few presents before he peaced out into the play room. He stayed in there playing with a train ornament that he received in his stocking for a good while. I think there was just too much going on for him to handle. We continued to open presents, putting his aside for when he was ready to come out.

Shae in the playroom

 Later that afternoon, Stephen's family came over and we started the present opening all over again (and ate some DELICIOUS Lasagna courtesy of Anna). 

It was such a fun day filled with goodies and presents and family. With that said, my favorite part of the day was later in the afternoon when we sat down to watch some Christmas videos that the church has made. There is so much that happens during the month of December, so many things to try and get done and traditions to make and keep. It really is so easy to get caught up in everything. I loved being able to sit back and remember the true reason behind the season. I'm grateful that we have this beautiful time of year to remember Christ's birth...to remember why it's important that Christ was born...to remember who he was, and who he is...to remember what he did for us and how he continues to bless us...to remember his example and ponder on our own lives and how we can be more like him. The great thing is that even though the Christmas music and candy canes and decorations and presents and advent calendars come to an end, Christ does not. He stays with us all year round. That is special.