15 Weeks

Evie decided it was a good week for a "silly face" photo. :) She is so funny these days, she loves to make jokes and say "I'm just joking!" and "Silly me!" all the time. It's so fun to have her be a part of taking bump pictures this time around.

15 weeks, and maybe I'm seeing a bit of improvement in the nausea department?? Are you tired of me talking about being nauseous? Because I'm tired of being nauseous. ;) Had a doctor's appointment this past week, all looks good- baby's heartbeat was 148 and everything is right on track. 

I'm wearing maternity clothes a lot more now, a friend gave me a bunch that I'm so thankful for, especially because there was a ton of dress clothes in there! That's always the hardest piece for meetings. I thought it would be fun to sometimes compare bump pics from Evie and see the difference. I feel like I'm huge already, but actually there isn't a huge difference from last time, just a bit. I think I'm just "rounded" this time earlier. Here's 15 weeks from 2010.

Seneca Lake 2014

Our family vacation this year was a 4 day stay at a lake house on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. We went with my parents, Matt and Allison, and Rose and Al (Matt's parents). We stayed at a gorgeous house right on the water, had really nice weather, and had a wonderful time relaxing!

14 Weeks

Week two of bump pictures and I'm already slacking on getting them up on time!! Oh well, in my defense we were on vacation for a few days so we've been busy. :) So I'm still waiting for the nausea to completely leave, it's definitely getting better, but it's not gone yet. And some food is starting to sound appetizing, but the list is still pretty short. And breakfast food continues to rain supreme!

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to check in on things, but it's nothing earth-shattering. And with the doppler at home and hearing the heartbeat so much, I don't count down the days until a doctor appointment just to hear the baby, which is nice. 

I did the doppler with Evie for the first time today, it was really cool to see her reaction. I told her it was kind of like a stethoscope at the doctor's so we could hear the baby's heartbeat, and she got really excited and wanted to hold it herself. It was really fun to see this first "interaction" between siblings, I can't wait until she can feel the baby kick and such. 

13 Weeks

13 weeks, considered by some as the end of first trimester. My morning/all day sickness has not gotten that memo yet. ;) Still battling pretty bad nausea on and off all day, and major aversion to pretty much all food. The only thing that's appealing to me these days is breakfast food- I've been eating tons of cereal and scrambled eggs!

I'm definitely showing sooner this time around, which I'm sure is a combination of second pregnancy and leftover belly from Evie. The cat is fully out of the bag now and we're public. I was really nervous about telling people, because of our loss history, but I'm finally starting to relax and feel more excited than nervous.

This time around, I borrowed a home doppler from a friend and the peace of mind it brings me is PRICELESS. I can listen to the baby's heartbeat whenever I want and that sound instantly puts a smile on my face. :) It really is helping me to get through this time when symptoms start to go away but you can't feel the baby moving yet.

We've now told Evie that there's a baby growing in mommy's belly and that she's going to be a big sister- she is SO EXCITED. She tells anyone who will listen and asks me when the baby is coming at least once a day. She talks to her "baby sister" a lot- we take every opportunity to remind her that the baby might be a boy and we'll find out soon, but she's pretty set on it being a girl. We'll see about that!

Some news from Evie

After quite a long road, we are finally, happily expecting a new addition to our family!! Baby Roy #2 is expected to arrive in late February 2015. I'm currently 12.5 weeks and waiting (impatiently) for 1st trimester nausea to subside. We've had two wonderful ultrasounds, and I've borrowed a home Doppler this time around so I can hear baby's heartbeat whenever I want- the peace of mind this brings is priceless!!
I hope to start posting here more regularly, to document this pregnancy just like I did with Evie. I can't promise a post every single week, but I'll do my best. They say second babies always get less photos and such, but let's TRY and start out equal shall we? ;)
So stay tuned this weekend for my first bump photo at 13 weeks!!  

Evie is Three (and some other things)

Our sweet little girl turned three years old last week. She is so amazing, I can't believe it's been three years already! In the last six months especially, we have seen such a change in her. She has truly grown up from being a toddler to a little preschooler. She talks my ear off all day long, loves to play with her friends, and is all about being independent and doing things on her own. She is becoming a wonderful, smart, sweet, loving, and friendly little girl. Evie brings us so much happiness and laughter every single day, we can't imagine what our lives would be like without her.

Evie loves to play outside now that the weather has finally warmed up (mostly). She loves to explore the backyard, ride in her car and on her bike, play in her playhouse, and go to the playground. Other activities she enjoys these days include play doh, her dollhouse, her Barbies and other dolls, painting, dressing up,  and singing and dancing. She is still loving dance class as much as ever- her recital is in the middle of June and I think she's really getting excited about it. :) 

If you ask her, she says her favorite colors are pink and purple- such a girl! She loves to watch movies, especially Frozen. She also is loving mommy's Kindle lately, so we've had to put some limits on when she can use it and how much. Evie also loves to listen to music, particularly the Disney station on Pandora, and of course- the Frozen soundtrack!! I'm sure anyone with young children knows exactly what we're going through over here. ;)

Some things we're working on over here: potty training!!! Remember way back in August when I claimed we were potty trained and took a cute photo and everything? Yea.... well I haven't mentioned it, but we've had several setbacks since then. We even went back to diapers for a couple months. We're back in undies now, but still dealing with a couple accidents a day. :/ It's a work in progress.

I know that I've been neglecting this little blog lately- I'm not sure if anyone's noticed except my mom and my Aunt Pat. ;) But honestly, it's been a rough few months for our family. Most of you already know what's been going on, but I kind of feel like it might help me to write about it. We decided we were ready for baby #2 back in July of last year. We found out we were expecting in August, but at 5.5 weeks lost the baby. It was a really difficult experience for me, I dealt with a lot of anxiety and paranoia afterwards, things that I'd never gone through before. I felt like a different person, and I hated not being in control of my own emotions. It was hard on all three of us, but thankfully after a few months I started to feel like myself again. In January we decided we were ready to try again, and we found out were we expecting again in February.

Unfortunately, this pregnancy also ended in a loss for us, this time at 11.5 weeks. This time we were dealing with a missed miscarriage, which meant I needed a d&c in the hospital. So we once again said goodbye to a promised child. This time is SO different than the first time, in both good and bad ways. 

I feel more emotionally stable this time, I'm not dealing with the severe crowd anxiety and paranoia like last time. I feel very disappointed and frustrated, I'm so mad that our timeline for having children has been ruined yet again. I want SO badly to give Evie a sibling. This is by far the hardest part for me, and the most emotional. She will make a truly wonderful big sister. She loves babies and is so gentle and sweet, I know she's going to be a great helper. It just makes me so sad that the longer it takes for us to have a baby, the bigger the age difference between them will be. I know that there are benefits to a bigger age gap, but it just feels like so long before they'll really be able to play together. And it's just not what I envisioned for our family. 

This is the most helpless and frustrated I think I've ever felt in my life. It is completely out of my control and I hate it. We'll be going back to the doctor soon to make a plan to try again, and hopefully there is nothing medically wrong. It could just be two crappy coincidences in a row. It could be more- either way, we need to know so we can figure this out. Our family isn't finished yet.

Thanks for listening if you've read this far. Here's a cute baby picture of Evie for your efforts. ;)

Sesame Street Live!

We admittedly don't watch Sesame Street a ton- there are about a gazillion TV shows out there, and Evie has many favorites. But she does like Elmo, and music and dancing, so I thought going to see the Sesame Street show would be fun. :) Evie loved it, she kept telling me during the performance "Mommy I like this show!" and dancing along. It was a bit long for an almost three year old, with about 15 minutes left she started asking when we were going to have lunch. But for the most part, it was a success!