Oh yeah- we're expecting :)

I originally started this blog when I found out of I pregnant with my first.  I did a pretty good job of documenting our weekly pregnancy updates, housing projects (because we moved during that time period), and other random happenings of the summer months.  I continued with monthly updates of Avery's birth and monthly growth milestones   I even tried to include vacation posts, well this summer I fell off the blog bandwagon and had a hard time getting back on.  One I had an almost 2-year old that kept me pretty busy and Two we got pregnant again and I was super tired and didn't feel like doing anything.  Once I got so behind I felt like I would NEVER be able to catch, so I gave up.  Sad times.  Well I really wanted to continue and a few weeks ago began back dating the posts I missed on my blog hiatus.  Obviously I'm not going to be able to back date our weekly pregnancy posts considering I'm 33 weeks, but I will try to include the highlights :)

So most of you reading this know I have PCOS and getting pregnant was not the easiest process for us, although I must say we have been so lucky to get pregnant both times within a reasonable amount of times.  I have several friends who have not been so lucky and my heart aches for them.  Without going into all the details of ovulation and bloodwork (if you are interested in learning more about what we went through I will be glad to share our journey with you) I will skip to the last phone call I had with my doc before finding out was where he told me I didn't ovulate (again) and he wanted me to go back on the pill and take about 4-6 months off of trying.  I was disappointed of course, but it was not the end of the world.  Because of the PCOS I have to sometimes take a pill to jump start my cycle (sorry TMI).  I waited and waited and finally thought there is no way possible, but I had a pregnancy test left over from when we tried for Avery so I thought what the heck.  On a Monday morning a 6am I got the two lines and was shocked.  Of course I couldn't trust an almost 2 year old test, so I picked up two more on the way to work and took them there.  Yes, I was that girl taking a pregnancy test at work.  I don't think anyone at my school knows I did that.  Below is the photo I texted to Joe.

Since my bloodwork came back that I did not ovulate that month we really had no idea when I got pregnant and were really unsure of the due date.  Our original though was May 5th, but after our first ultrasound the due date turned out to be May 17th.

Lil peanut's 1st picture

With baby #2 I learned that my "bump" began showing a lot earlier than with Avery.  Maternity clothes are pretty comfortable, so I didn't mind wearing them as soon as possible.  The only downfall was all my maternity clothes were summer, and it was winter time when I needed to begin wearing them.

about 12 or so weeks here

I try to take weekly pictures, but I'm really bad about remembering, so here is the best progression I can get ya.

16 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

25 weeks

27 weeks

30 weeks

31 weeks 

32 weeks 

33 weeks

Gender post 

Addison's birthday is scheduled to be May 14th unless she decides to arrive earlier than that.

Roller Girl

Last night was skate night for my school.  I have not been to any of them this year, so I thought why not take Avery and see what she can do.  She has NEVER stepped foot into rollerskates of any kind, but there's a 1st time for everything right?  I was really really really hoping they'd have the "grow with me" skates there for little kids, but they did not.  So we had no choice but to put her in the real deal.  The smallest size they had were 8s and to my surprise they fit great.  I don't think I've ever see a cuter pair of roller skates in my life.  I do believe the two skates together weighed more than my 2 1/2 year old child, but whatever.  Joe and I got her laced up and she was ready to go.  Home girl was so excited because she's watched Caillou ice skate and she thought it was be just like that.

ready or not... seriously, check out those skates!!

Well it wasn't that easy, even though she thought she was doing great and really that's all that matters right?

Don't worry, both arms are still in their sockets :) 

I saw several kids with what looked like "walkers" for senior citizens with wheels.  I sent Joe to find one for Avery so he and I wouldn't have back pain for days on end walking around with her.  In the meantime I tried taking her out on the rink, but they kicked me off because I wasn't wearing skates.  Um seriously, would you rather have an 8 month pregnant woman out here on skates? I think not.  Joe came back with the great skate walker thing and proceeded to tell me it cost $4.00 to rent.  Geez people- seriously?   Luckily there were some sweet girls from my school who offered to help Avery on the rink.  I think they thought it was going to be easier than it actually was because they didn't make it very far with her. 

I might be a millionaire if I invented this little thing 

We tried to keep Avery contained to the carpet area where "skateless" people were allowed, but Avery being the stubborn child she is wanted to go out on the rink by herself because she thinks she's actually 6 years old and can "do it by herself."  A snow cone held her off for a short while then we decided it was way too close to bedtime and we were probably in for a meltdown no matter what we did.  We returned the skates and the meltdown unfolded, but daddy talked her out of it in the car by distracting her with questions about other random things.  He's gotten pretty good at that :) Her memories of skating are good and she said she had a lot of fun and wants to go back.  I think a pair of plastic skates that she can wear over the shoes are a near future purchase.  

Family of Three... for now

Addison will be here before we know it.  Joe and I have been trying to spend some special last moments together as our little family of three.  I think hope pray Avery does well with having a new baby sister, but only time will tell.  As of now she seems to be excited and she talks about sharing her toys and helping mommy and daddy with the baby.  Yesterday I was talking to her and I was drinking water from a water bottle.  She asked me what it was and I told her a water bottle.  She told me bottles are for babies and she was not a baby that she was a big girl. I told her she was right, then she proceeded to tell me that Addison is a baby and she will drink from bottles and that she was going to help feed her bottles--so we'll see.  

This past weekend we took Avery to the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville.  She's been there twice already, but it was amazing to see her there almost  a year later.  She was so excited to see and feed the animals.  Especially the baby goats.   They were her favorite and mine too :)  Sadly a lot of the little baby goats didn't really want to eat from the people.  That frustrated Avery, so there may or may not have been a 2 1/2 year old lil girl yelling at the baby goats to "get over here right now!!"  Maybe... 

Can't go to Lazy 5 without getting Ice Cream :) 

I said let's take a picture of us eating our ice cream and this is the face I got.  

Family Selfie

DIY Nursery Mobile

I decided to make a mobile for Addison's nursery, instead of buying the one that goes with her bedding.  One- the one that goes with her bedding has birds on it and I didn't want birds since I had owls in Avery's room and Two- I didn't want to spend the money.  Since we are not having any showers, Joe and I are having to purchase a lot of things ourselves, so anywhere I can save a buck I'm all for it.

The supplies I needed where an embroider hoop and ribbon.

hoop given to me by grandmother (free)
ribbon 40% at Michaels ($8)

I began by cutting strips of ribbon and tying them to the hoop.  Not sure what this type of loop is called, but maybe the links at the bottom know more about knots than me :) I used the widest patterned ribbon first (ps- when I bought it I had no idea how perfect it would actually match her bedding- score).

Then added the silver/gray strips between the patterned ribbon. 

The links that I pinned didn't tell me to wrap the hoop in a ribbon, but I decided I probably should, so I took off all the ribbon to start over.  I would have worked without wrapping it if I used all thin ribbon and overlapped them, but I was not...

 I busted out the hot glue gun and used the silver/gray ribbon and wrapped it around the hoop.  Putting a few spots of hot glue on the inside of the hoop to ensure it stays tight all the way around.

After wrapping the hoop I retied the ribbon around it.  Beginning with the pattern, then silver, then pink, and then the white in the empty spots.  The pink ribbon has glitter and it was a lot harder to tie because it was stiff, but every little girls room needs a touch of glitter.

When I took it upstairs to put it on Avery's old mobile arm piece (no idea what it's called).  I noticed all the ribbon becoming looser and looser.  SO I sat down in glider in the nursery and tied a knot under each of the knot loops I previously made.  That did the trick.  Lastly I took a piece of pink ribbon I had in my ribbon scraps and tied it to each side of the hoop and hung it directly from the music piece on the old mobile.  The pins I found said to tie a string from three different parts and hang from the middle of those three. Honestly I did try that also, but could never get the hoop to hang evenly.  Ain't nobody got time for that, so the pink ribbon worked and was way less tricky.

Ta-da
You could choose to have your ribbon all perfectly even, but I like it  all different lengths.  

Here's a side by side comparioson of Avery's mobile and the new DIY mobile.  The pink fabric on the mobile arm is a bit darker than the other pinks in the room, so that may change, but most likely it will stay and eventually it will just blend in :) 

 So there ya have it.  I'm pretty proud of my "craftiness" in this room.  Usually my crafty comes out crappy!!!  Happy Friday!

My "pinspirations" for this project came from these sites. DIY: Ribbon Chandelier , DIY-ribbon-mobile, and Make Your Own Ribbon Mobile.

Enough is ENOUGH...

Yes, I'm talking to you MOTHER NATURE with all your snow, ice, sleet, and freezing rain.  We are OVER it and we would like SPRING to appear.  K thanks bye!!!  

Avery's 1st Haircut

At almost 2 1/2 years old I decided it was time for Avery to have her first haircut.  She has been so lucky to have been born with a head full of hair and not lose it.  She didn't have that awkward balding baby phase or the mullet toddler phase.  BUT she has a super sentisitve head and that doesn't mesh well with crazy toddler table manners with sticky foods.  Does anyone else know the feeling of having to be so careful putting your two year old in a car seat with out getting her hair stuck in the chest plate? Seriously? It's a lot of drama.  Now of course I didn't get much cut at all, a trim is more like it, maybe an inch.  I knew from daily hair brushing and getting her hair fixed she would not be a happy camper getting a haircut, so I decided a kid friend over priced placed would be the best thing for us for this "first timer."  We tried talking it up on the way and the closer and closer we got the more tears and complaining I heard from the back seat.  To hear a two year old say they want to "go home and go nite-nite" you know they are not happy campers.  

Waiting....She may or may not have peed through her diaper and on to daddy's lap b/c she was so scared. 

There was a little boy getting his hair cut when we walked in so we had to wait, which I think ended up being a blessing in disguise because by the time it was our turn she warmed up to the joint and was more curious and not so much scared to death afraid of things.  She took right to "Miss Amanda" and did exactly what she asked.  I just knew I was going to have to sit with her in the chair and hold her, but she didn't need me at all.

Looking a little worried, but no tears

checking herself out in the mirror

"Ms. Amanda" asked her to get down and stand on the floor to get the front of her hair and she did exaclty what she said even "looking up" or "looking down" when requested.  I was very proud of my big girl.

The biggest shocker for me was that she let "Ms. Amanda" blow dry her hair.  She never lets me do this, so I'm going to have to ask again because she could totally rock a blown out look.

FINALLY the smile :)

All that was left was the finishing touches and a cute little pink hairbow tied to a bobby pin for my little princess.

AND of course an over priced kid friendly place comes with a prize at the end.  Sweet!!!  Afterwards we walked to Harris Teeter to pick up a few things and get a cookie reward.

see what I mean about the blow out? Perfection!!

Snow much SNOW!!!

Winter of 2014 brought us more snow than I can remember having since leaving Boone.  The first storm was pretty, but the 2nd was even better.  We went sledding, built a snowman, made snow cream and snow angels.  BUT after that I was done with snow, but mean Mother Nature was not done with her snow, sleet, and ice.  So far we've had a total of 8 snow days.  The kids have to go to school until June 16th!!!  Thank goodness for maternity leave because I won't be there.  

 

Sledding with her buddy, Carson

sandy table = snow table :) 

my snow angel

snow selfie