Introducing Evan Jeffrey!!

It's a boy!!  This seems a little silly to post since the majority of people know that he's here, especially since he is almost 3 weeks old now!  He definitely surprised all of us and arrived on 6/21/12, exactly three weeks early.  He weighed 7 lbs, 6 ozs and was 19 3/4" long.  He made the most of the longest day of the year and waited until 11:35 pm to arrive :) 



So, let's see...the story of his birth.  I didn't have any signs that I was going to go into labor anytime soon, or at least not any like I had with Grace.  On Tuesday night (6/19) I remember waking up a lot in the night with back pain and I remember thinking that it felt a little bit like contractions but not believing it really could be.  I was completely expecting him to come close to his due date, since Grace had been born right on hers.  I didn't think he would come until after the 4th at the earliest. 
On Wednesday (6/20) I took Grace to the Treehouse in Chelsea (it's an indoor playground for those of you who don't know) since it was SO stinking hot that we couldn't do anything outside.  It was the first time I had gone by myself with her and I was nervous because the last times we had gone she had needed help climbing the structures and I knew there was no way I would be able to help her since I was so huge!!  But it went great, and I remember I texted Jeff saying I was going to take her at least once a week until the baby came because it was so nice to be able to sit while she played and know that she was safe.  Ha ha!! 

36.5 weeks pregnant.  Little did I know that 3 days
after this pic was taken I would have the baby!

That night we went up to Pleasant Lake and went swimming.  We had already been a few times this summer and it was so nice for me to be able to relieve some of the pressure of being pregnant while I was in the water.  While we were there I had this strong emotion that I needed to cherish these moments because before long our family would be completely different.  I guess maybe subconsciously I knew something was going to happen?

After we got home from the lake I got a headache and felt a little nauseous.  It was the first time I had felt that way since I got over the 1st trimester morning sickness so it did make me wonder a little if labor was coming soon.  But I got over my nausea pretty quickly and decided to make blueberry scones - they were delicious!

We went to bed around 11:30 or so, and I remember that before I turned the light out I got up to pee one more time and it seemed like my underwear was a little wetter than normal, but I didn't think much of it and went to bed and pretty much passed out!  I woke up again at 2 am to pee, and as I was walking to the bathroom it definitely felt like things were really wet.  I sat down on the toilet but before I actually started peeing I heard "plop, plop" in the toilet.  I was still half asleep so it took me a minute to really register what I thought I heard, so I turned the light on (I had started freaking out wondering if I was bleeding!) and that's when I noticed that my pantyliner was TOTALLY soaked through and that there was clear fluid coming out.  I'm glad that this didn't happen with Grace because I might not have figured out that my water had broken.  I think I kind of stood there in shock for a minute or two before I really grasped what was happening.  I didn't have any contractions, I hadn't lost my mucous plug or had "bloody show" (both of which had happened with Grace a few days before I went into labor) so it was a complete surprise.  I went and woke Jeff up and told him that I thought my water had broken and he was completely out of it and I don't think it really registered with him what was happening either! 

Since it was 2 am, we hadn't lined anyone up yet to be "on-call" to come and watch Grace and since I wasn't actually having contractions I decided to try to go back to sleep and wait until either at least 6 am to call anyone or until I actually started having contractions.  Unfortunately, there was no way I was going back to sleep, even though I really needed it!  All I could think about was everything that still needed to get done and how we totally weren't ready for the baby to come and worrying about who would watch Grace, etc, etc.  I hadn't even packed anything for the hospital yet!   Finally at 4:30 I gave up and got out of bed and made a list of all the things we needed to do before we left for the hospital (and started working on those things!).  I also decided that I was going to wait until at least 8 am to do anything and call the doctor's office when they opened to see what they wanted me to do.  I was supposed to have my 37 week appt with my doctor that day where they were going to do an ultrasound to make sure the baby was head-down and I had a list of questions I was going to ask her.

We called my mom and dad at 6:30 and had my mom come over to stay at the house while Jeff and I went walking to see if it would start any contractions.  We walked for an hour and I had some minor contractions while we were walking but as soon as I stopped walking they went away.  When I called the doctor at 8 they told me I needed to go to labor and delivery so I took a shower and then waited until 9:30 when Grace woke up.  There was no way I was leaving before I got to say goodbye to her!!

I think we finally got to the hospital around 10:30.  They checked to see if I was actually leaking amniotic fluid and the test came back positive so it was official - I was going to have a baby that day!  I was also 2 cms dilated and 70% effaced at that point and they did an ultrasound that confirmed the baby was head down.  I was admitted to my room around 12:30 or so.  Since I wasn't having contractions they had to start me on pitocin, but I asked if I could walk around some first to see if it would start anything.  Unfortunately the walking didn't do anything so they started me on pitocin around 3:30 pm.  Once you are on pitocin you have to be constantly monitored so it sucked because it meant that I couldn't walk or sit in the shower. 

I don't think I started having "real" contractions until about 5 pm or so.  Even then, they weren't that painful and were pretty easy to breathe through.  They also weren't very consistent - sometimes they would be 2 minutes apart and then other times they would be 5 minutes apart.  I sat on the birthing ball for awhile and kept trying to change positions as much as I could but it was a total pain with all the IV wires and monitor wires.  I think I was around 4-5 cms dilated at that point.  Around 7:30 pm the contractions started getting really painful and were mostly concentrated in my lower back/tailbone.  I was really worried this meant the baby was "sunny side up" and I was in for a lot of pain but the nurse didn't seem to think so.  My mom, my sister and Jeff's mom had been in the room until that point but I kicked them out for at least an hour while I focused on getting through the contractions.  They checked me at around 9 pm and I was almost 7 cm dilated.  I had really been hoping it would be more since the contractions were really hurting by then!!  I couldn't believe how much my lower back was hurting and none of the positions I tried were helping.  I was also totally exhausted at this point - I had essentially been awake for over 36 hours and I hadn't eaten anything substantial since the blueberry scones almost 24 hours before.  The nurse checked me again around 10 or so and I was at 9 cms - she also tried to "stretch" my cervix when she did this (without telling me ahead of time that she was going to do it) and that was my breaking point.  I am honestly surprised that I didn't punch her in the face when she did that - it hurt more than any pain I had felt up to that point.  I think I started crying and I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore and told Jeff and the nurse that I wanted an epidural.  I figured they would tell me it was too late, but by 10:45 pm I had the epidural and was starting to feel a TON of pressure.  I kind of regret getting the epidural because I had wanted to go natural again like I had with Grace, but the doctor told me it had allowed me to finally relax enough to finish dilating so I guess it was a good thing.  Although it still seems silly to me that I had it for barely an hour!! 

Around 11:20 pm I started pushing and in less than 10 minutes of pushing baby Evan arrived!  Once his head came out (which hurt like CRAZY, even with the epidural) I figured it would be really easy from there since I remembered with Grace that it only took one little push to get the rest of her body out, but I was wrong.   The dr and nurses kept telling me to push as hard as I could and I felt like I was but his body wasn't coming out.  Finally I heard a "snap" (which TOTALLY freaked me out) and he came out all the way.  I heard the doctor say "make sure you check his clavicle" and I was terrified that he had broken his shoulder.  It turns out that he decided to come out with his right hand by his face so his arm was stuck on my pelvic bone.  Thankfully nothing was wrong except he had a bad bruise on his forearm but it completely explained why I had been having such bad pain in my tailbone area.  The doctor also told me that when babies come out that way that it's the equivalent of giving birth to a baby that weighs 1/2 lb more, so at that point I stopped feeling like a wimp for getting the epidural!!  The best part of Evan taking so long to come out was that when the nurse shift changed at 11 pm I was able to get my cousin Connie as my nurse.  She had just missed Grace being born so I was glad Evan cooperated for her :)

Best nurse ever!

We were discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening, but ended up going back on Sunday afternoon and spending another night because Evan developed jaundice.  We knew we were at a higher risk of him getting it because Grace had it, and also because our babies get a "special" kind of jaundice because of blood-type incompatibility.  I have O blood and Jeff has AB blood so both of our kids ended up with A blood.  A/B blood doesn't mix with O blood so while I am pregnant the anti-bodies of the different blood types cross through the placenta and the baby has more bilirubin in their bloodstream when they are born.  I totally blame Jeff for this because he's the one with the weird blood type!!  Anyways, more anti-bodies mix with each subsequent pregnancy so it gets worse with each baby.  Add to that the fact that Evan was born in the 37th week and the risk gets even higher.  The frustrating part is that our normal pediatrician doesn't do rounds anymore at the hospital where we delivered, so we just had whoever was on rotation each day deciding whether Evan needed treatment for the jaundice or not.  The doctor who let us go home on Saturday was following the "mid-risk curve" and said he was okay, but the doctor who made us go back on Sunday was following the "high-risk curve".  It ended up being the right thing to do to go in, but in a way it would have been easier to just stay at the hospital on Saturday night and start the light treatment then.  We finally got to go home for good on Monday afternoon, but Evan went to the doctor for blood draws on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and again the following Monday.   Plus, we had noticed a spot in his right eye inside the pupil so our doctor sent us to the Kellogg Eye Center at U of M on Thursday morning to have them look at it.  It ended up being a (hopefully) harmless persistent pupilliary membrane (basically a "piece" of the iris was left behind when the pupil formed inside the iris) that shouldn't cause any problems.  We have to go back in 6 months just to make sure it isn't affecting his vision - if it's making his vision blurry his brain can start to ignore the images coming from that eye which would essentially make him blind in that eye.  It has been a crazy few weeks, but so far things have finally started to settle down, thank goodness.

Coming home (the first time)!

What a sweet big sister!

Evan has been a pretty easy baby so far (except for all the medical issues!).  He usually only cries when he's hungry or needs his diaper changed, but the doctor warned us that he could be mellower than usual because of the jaundice and being born early.  We're bracing ourselves for the other shoe to drop since Grace was so unhappy the first 3 months of her life!  Thankfully, he is a really good eater (he latched on within 20 minutes of birth) so nursing has been easy, but I totally forgot how time-consuming it is.  It's easy to adjust to each new stage of independence your kids reach and hard to go back to the phase where they are totally dependent on you!  Evan actually gained 10 ozs from his Wednesday doctor appt to his Monday doctor appointment so I know he's eating enough!!

My loves!

Grace has been...interesting since Evan came home.  NO (said with an attitude) seems to be her word of choice these days, and it's hard to tell if she's acting like this because of Evan, or because she probably got whatever she wanted from my dad the entire time we were in the hospital, or if it's just the "terrible twos" showing up.   I've really been struggling being patient with her since I'm pretty exhausted most of the time and I've definitely been losing my temper more with her lately.  Every day I feel so guilty because I feel like at any given moment I'm ignoring one of them.  It was really hard on me when Evan came so early because I hadn't really prepared Grace (or myself!) for the changes.  I thought I had a few more weeks to spend with her and had even ordered a "big sister" book on Amazon 2 days before he was born that I was going to read with her before he came.  It is very overwhelming going from 1 child to 2, especially when you weren't really prepared yet!  Each day seems to get a little easier, but I'm worried about what I'm going to do when Evan isn't a little baby who can't move or get into things and I'll be chasing both of them around!!   Thankfully Grace is really loving toward Evan and always wants to see him or kiss him or hug him.  Hopefully these feelings last a long time :)  On a funnier note, Grace cracked both of us up the other day when we were out to lunch - we told Grace she was getting chicken fingers for lunch and when they came she shouted "chicken hands!!".  It was so stinking cute!!

With Great-grandma and grandpa Holleran

So, that's the story of our newest miracle's arrival into the world.   Please pray for all of us as we adjust to everything new!

Smiling in his sleep!

Catching Up

So I am REALLY behind on my blog, it's official.  Sigh - oh, well.  My to-do list is about 10 pages long these days and it seems like all I do is keep adding to it instead of crossing things off!  I guess I have a lot to cover in this post, but that also means lots of pictures! 
We celebrated Easter (wow, that seems like a long time ago) by driving to Ohio and visiting my cousin at her new house in Toledo.  They live right on the Maumee River so they have an awesome view.  Grace got to spend some time with her cousin Eliana - they were both so cute in their Easter dresses. 

Cake pop "chicks" I made for Easter

We celebrated my 31st birthday on May 3rd - Grace was so proud to give me the Gerber daisy plant that she and Jeff had picked out for me.  It was so cute!!  We went to dinner at Mac's in Saline with my mom, my sister, and her family and then came back and had homemade brownie ice cream sandwiches that Jeff had made.  They were AWESOME!

I wanted to take a picture of her
in this outfit, and she decided on
her own to stick her hands in her
pockets.  What a goof!

Track finished up in the middle of May - even though the season was much shorter than high school, it was really packed in there for about 3 weeks.  I think for 3 weeks straight I had a meet every other day so I wasn't getting home until 8 pm or later on those nights.  Overall it was a good season and I enjoyed it more than I did coaching high school, but I learned more than I really wanted to know about 7th and 8th grade boys.  They are NUTS!  So I had a break in coaching, but we're getting ready to start the cross country summer practices next week, so it was only a short one!

Modeling an outfit Grandma
made her for her birthday.

It's so hard to believe that my little girl is now two!  It still seems like yesterday when I was holding her in the hospital wondering how I was going to get through the next few days, let alone two whole years!!  We celebrated her birthday on the 12th, since her real birthday was on Mother's Day this year (I have a feeling that's going to happen to her a lot over the years!) and she had a great time.   It's amazing how much more into it she was this year just compared to last year.  My goal had been to make her a Chica cake (from Sprout) since that is her favorite character, but I didn't get home until 11 pm the night before her party (from a track meet, of course!) so I didn't have enough time/motivation to do it.  I felt guilty, but I don't think she cared!  She had no issues digging into the cake, as the pictures show! 

Getting excited about blowing out the candle
(not sure why she had her arms behind her head!)

Blowing out the candle

Digging in!!

Our birthday girl!

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled up to Traverse City and Jeff ran in the Bayshore Marathon (I am SO glad that's over!).  We went up on Thursday afternoon and came home Monday evening.  I was little nervous how Grace would do sleeping in the camper since we haven't gone camping since Labor Day but she did great.  We were definitely putting her to bed later than normal but we didn't have any nights where she didn't go to sleep for 2 hours after we tried to put her down like the last time!  Jeff did awesome in his marathon.  It was his first one, so the main goal was just to finish it, but he really wanted to try to do it under 4 hours.  He ended up finishing at 3:41 and he felt great the whole time.  Grace and I were able to cheer him on at the 19 mile mark and at the finish - they had school buses that would drive you out to spectator spots so Grace got to ride on a school bus for the first time :)  We were lucky to get to see him as easily as we did - they have 3 different races that day for a total of 7500 runners so needless to say, it was pretty crazy!

Glamorous beach baby!

Grace LOVED the beach.  I don't know if there's any type of water this kid doesn't love.  Since we didn't get up there on Thursday night until after 6, by the time we had dinner we were just able to walk along the beach while the sun set, but on Friday morning we headed over there and I think she would have stayed all day.  The water was FREEZING but Grace was content to sit at the water's edge and play with her sand toys.  The best part of the trip (and one we still are laughing about) was how she acted that first day as we were walking down to the water.  It's slightly downhill, and it's all sugar-sand, so she was struggling a little bit to walk through it.  She kept saying "whoa, Chi-Chi, whoa" as she was walking (I should clarify that Chi-Chi is how she says Gracie).  We were dying!!  I told Jeff that if he ever started getting tired or discouraged during the marathon he needed to think of her saying that and he said it did help him during the race.  I just wish we could have gotten it on video.  On Sunday night we walked along the beach as the sun set, and Grace kept insisting on walking right along the water's edge.  She wasn't wearing a bathing suit, just normal clothes, and of course, she fell in :)  She handled it really well and it was pretty funny.  She was completely soaked from her waist down. 

Watching a storm roll in - it actually knocked
out power in the campground for over an hour!

Goofing off in the camper

Grace has definitely been going through a lot of changes/developments these last 2 months.  We did have a stretch for about 4 days where she went poo-poo on the potty each time she needed to go, but then she started pooping right before she would wake up from a nap or when we were out somewhere so we haven't had a streak like that since.  To be honest I haven't really forced the issue too much, and part of it is because I haven't had the energy or the patience to try to do a really good job of getting her to go on the potty more.  Plus, it's hard to be 30+ weeks pregnant and out in a restaurant or a store and try to take her into the bathroom and get her to go!  So, hopefully sometime by the end of the year we'll be able to be officially potty trained.

The other big change is that Grace has officially transitioned to a toddler bed.  I went back and forth about whether to just put her in a twin bed, but because of how little she still is and knowing that I would have to help her in and out of it, we decided to go with a toddler bed for now, and she LOVES it!  I'm really glad we got the smaller bed because I think she feels even more independent because she can get in it herself.  I was totally dreading the change, picturing her getting up every night and wandering the house or refusing to go to sleep, but she hasn't gotten out on her own except for one time when my dad was watching her and put her to bed.  I had asked the pediatrician when we went for her 2 year check-up if she had any tips and she told me to sit Grace down and tell her she's not allowed to get out of the bed unless mommy or daddy come to get her and that usually a first-born girl who's eager to please will obey.  I was a little skeptical that it would be that simple, but she was right (thank goodness!).  We just made the transition last Saturday so maybe there's still time for Grace to have issues, but hopefully not.

Grace still continues to amaze me with her developments.  She does not miss ANYTHING that you teach her, and her memory is incredible.  I'm going to have to start asking her to remember things for me :)  She has started to look at books by herself and tell the story to herself - it totally blows my mind.  She has a book of Bible stories that tell some of the "bigger" stories of the Bible in 2-3 pages each with a few sentences on each page, and the other day she had gotten the book out while I was working on the computer and was looking at the story of creation.  I heard her say "moon, stars, sun, earth" and she was looking right at the page where it says God created those very things!  I knew she knew what the sun, moon and stars were, but I had no idea she knew what a picture of the earth was! 
We've been doing a ton of landscaping around our house in the last two months so we've made a lot of trips to Lowe's and on one of our first trips there we saw a worker running a forklift.  Grace asked what it was and I told her it was a hi-lo.  Probably a month later we were there again and she heard the back-up beeping sound that one of them makes and started saying "hi-lo, hi-lo".  I couldn't believe it - I know for a fact that we hadn't brought up the hi-lo since we had been there and she completely remembered it!  Of course, whenever we hear a back-up beep from ANY vehicle she thinks it's a hi-lo :)  Another random development that just happened in the last 2 weeks is that Jeff and I have changed from "mama" and "dada" to "mommy" and "daddy".  I love hearing her call me mommy, but it's so sad to know that she probably won't ever call me mama again.  I wish she would give some warning before she does these things!!
I am now down to less than 5 weeks to go of this pregnancy (at least I hope so!!).  I had been doing pretty good with feeling okay and not having too many issues until we started getting the upper 80's and 90 degree days.  Heat is definitely not my friend!  It seems like any issues I had with my pregnancy with Grace I don't have this time around, but things that didn't happen to me when I was pregnant with Grace are happening now.  For example, my feet didn't grow or swell hardly at all when I was pregnant with Grace, and I had actually bought a pair of cute black sandals within a month of Grace's birth.  Well, those sandals can hardly be wedged onto my fat feet now!!  Even when it's not really hot I can tell that my feet are wider than they were a few months ago.  Sleeping has becoming increasingly uncomfortable too.  It seems like no matter how I lay, something is hurting.  I joked with Jeff that pregnancy wouldn't be so bad if I could just take my stomach off at night while I slept :)  It's hard to say that I'm ready to be done though, because now I know exactly how much work a newborn is, so I'm not as excited for this baby to come out.  Lugging around a bowling ball in my stomach isn't fun, but at least the work of keeping the baby fed and healthy is no real effort on my part!

28 weeks pregnant.  I forgot to take one
at 32 weeks so I'll have to wait until 36 weeks.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of cute Grace-isms that have happened since April - I know I have some videos that I want to post on here, but I have to figure out how first :)  Hopefully I can get in at least 2 more posts before baby #2 arrives!

Spring is Here!

It's hard to believe that it's already April, and my little girl will be 2 years old in just over a month.  Wasn't she just born?!  We have been enjoying the nicer weather that we have had for the last two weeks - Grace is definitely an outside girl.  It can get pretty ugly when we need to get her to go inside (as in total meltdown!!). 


I started coaching middle school boys track in the middle of March and so far it's going pretty well.  There's only 12 boys on the team this year so that is a little disappointing but probably good for my first year!  Middle school track is so much less demanding than HS track - the season is only about 9 weeks long and there's just a lot less to deal with.  I did find out last week that I will probably be coaching both the boys and the girls for at least the next few weeks.  The other coach's mom has cancer and lives in Chicago and is not doing very well so she has to stay with her.  I feel so bad for her - she's the same age as me and her mom is only in her 60's and she will most likely have to say goodbye in the next few weeks or months.  I'm a little freaked out about coaching by myself, but Jeff is going to help out as much as he can and I'm just glad I can do this so the other coach can spend time with her mom.

Giving new meaning to a "bowl haircut"

Grace is starting to show signs of the terrible two's...sigh.    A few weeks ago Jeff brought home pizza for dinner, but it was only about 5:30 so I didn't want to eat quite yet.  Jeff is training for the Bayshore Marathon (not sure if I've already mentioned this) so he decided to eat right away so he could get in a run before it got dark.  Well, that was a mistake.  As soon as Grace saw him eating she kept saying "Pizzie, pizzie" and even though I told her she and I would eat in a few minutes she just totally lost it.  She doesn't throw a temper tantrum she throws a drama tantrum!!  She just fell to the ground sobbing her eyes out like she had just found out her best friend died.  And she wouldn't quit!!  Even after we got her in her high chair and I was cutting up her pizza she was still bawling.  If the drama is this bad now (over pizza!) I'm not sure I will survive the teenage years!

Finger painting!

I've been trying to figure out appropriate ways to discipline her.  Jeff and I have decided that we want to avoid any kind of corporal punishment but I never realized how hard it would be to discipline an almost 2 year old.  She's still too young for time-out (I actually tried to put her in one and she thought it was hilarious and wanted to stay there for an hour, so that backfired!) so I've been trying to figure out how to match the consequence to the crime.  The other day I was unloaded grocery bags into the pantry and Grace would not stop trying to take everything out of the bags.  Since she has recently really started to love her baby dolls I told her that if she touched the stuff one more time I would take away her dolls.  Well, she didn't listen so I took away her dolls and the drama began!!  But I think it worked - I put her dolls back while she was taking a nap and when she woke up (my mom was watching her because I was at practice) she saw her dolls and told my mom "Bag, mess" (pointing to the pantry) and then went "wah-wah" as if she was crying.  So something must have gotten through!!

What a good dog - Toby is willing to be
dressed up while he's trying to take a nap!

Grace's vocabulary still continues to amaze me.  She has started to get really good at telling a story with one word at a time.  For example, she will tell you "Dada, tractor, dirt" and what she's really telling you is that she watched daddy move dirt around in the yard with a tractor.  Or she will say "moo, neigh, honk" and that means that we saw cows, horses, and geese on our walk.  We've been trying to get her to say I love you more clearly (it sounded more like I lah lah) so I was going over each word with her and she did "I" and "love" pretty well but when I said "you" she pointed to herself and said "me".  It cracked me up!!  A toddler's mind is a pretty funny thing - last night we were at our church's child care center and she was trying to figure out how to get on a little climbing structure and I was trying to tell her the stairs were on the other side.  First I told her to "go on the other side" but that didn't look like it was registering so I told her to "go around" and she started turning in circles.  I think toddlers actually make adults work on their communication skills!

I'm ready to go!

The other big news is that Grace went poo-poo on the potty a few weeks ago.  I think it was more a perfectly timed accident than something that is going to happen on a regular basis, but I was still really happy!  We've tried a few more times since then (and one time she even said poo-poo and ran into the bathroom and wanted to sit on the potty) but what usually happens is I will sit on the floor with her for 15-20 minutes reading books (while my butt goes numb!) and then we'll get off, put on a new diaper and 10 minutes later she will poop in the diaper.  GRR!!  But at least she's got the idea.  While it would be awesome if she was potty trained before baby #2 arrives I'm not too concerned about it - I would be really happy if she was trained by the end of this year.

24 weeks

As for me, I think I am starting to hit the uncomfortable phase of pregnancy.  I am almost 26 weeks, so I will be in the third trimester soon, but I feel like my stomach is already huge.  I definitely think I am carrying this baby differently than I did with Grace - it seems like this time around it is more just in my stomach which makes me look (and feel) bigger than I am.  A lot of people say this means it's a boy, I guess we'll find out!

Changing Every Day

Good thing February has an extra day this year so I can get an entry in before the end of the month :)  I have got to get better about writing here more often - I know there's a ton of things that Grace has done since I last posted but I know I'm forgetting at least half of them!!
It amazes me how much Grace's vocabulary grows, almost on a daily basis.  Some words are really easy to understand, and other words we're still trying to figure out what they actually are!  My favorite is "naka" (naked).  Jeff usually is the one who gives her a bath and recently she has started to run out of the bathroom naked after she's done and comes to find me.  I started saying "Here comes my naked girl" and a few weeks ago when she would run down the hallway she would say "naka, naka!"  It took us a couple of days to realize that she was saying naked.  It's so cute!  She also recognizes when other people don't have clothes on - on her YoBaby yogurt there was a picture of a baby with just a diaper on it and she pointed to it and said "naka" and just tonight when Jeff took off his shirt to change she pointed to him and said "naka".  That kid just cracks me up!!

The dog cage was very fascinating - I like
how Grace looks like she's really in jail!

First time in the sled!

Another good Grace story (that I actually remembered!) happened at church a while ago - we have been working on getting Grace to fold her hands while praying and of course that doesn't go over well, so Jeff had picked her up to get her to at least be quiet during the prayers.  He still had his head bowed and his eyes closed while he was holding her so she tried to open his eyelids so he would pay attention to her!  It was all I could do to not bust out laughing myself!!

I took her to the library's reading hour and they had a special
Valentine's tea party - she actually had fun, even though this doesn't
look like it!  Right after I took this pic she did a complete somersault
off the back of the chair - I felt so bad!

One of her favorite things to do - make a
mess with books!

Grace has been watching some Sprout, which usually equals about 5 minutes at a time since that's how long her attention span is :)  Her absolute favorite is Chica, who does the birthdays every day.  All day she will say "Chica" and then say "happy, happy" to imitate the happy birthday song they sing.  I'm not sure why Chica holds all the appeal, but I sure am sick of having the happy birthday song and the theme song to Calliou in my head all day!!  That's one of the things no one ever told you before you became a parent :)
Grace's other all-time favorite thing to do is "help".  It doesn't matter what it is, she wants to help.  She's actually become quite a good helper - she helps me load the washer and dryer, she will throw things in the trash if you ask her, and today I had spilled some water on the floor and she helped me clean it up.  Now I can only hope that this lasts all through the teenage years!!  We baked Valentines cookies together and tonight she helped me bake some strawberry-banana bread.  This was one of the things I dreamed about getting to do with my kids and I always prayed that I would have a little girl that I could do these things with.  As frustrating as parenting a toddler can be, it's things like baking together that make it totally worth it. 
Grace has started to understand that there's a baby in my tummy, but I'm sure she doesn't comprehend what that really means for her life!  She has recently started to kiss my tummy and go up to it and say "Hi!" and give it hugs.  It's so cute, I just wish I could prepare her a little more for what life is going to be like after the baby is born.  I'm hoping it won't be too painful of a transition for her. 

This is what her hair looked like one morning
after she woke up.  I'm not sure if this signifies
a good night or a bad night's sleep!

As far as the pregnancy goes, everything is going smooth so far, thank God, although this baby is already quite the trouble-maker!  At around 12 weeks I had an ultrasound done to screen for certain birth defects and the tech needed to get a profile shot of the baby.  When she first started the exam, the baby was looking straight up so she did some of the other measurements and then waited for the baby to turn.  After going to the bathroom, lying on my side and moving around for 20 minutes the baby finally turned its head for about 3 seconds for her to get the shot!  I think I was in the room for almost 45 minutes.  Last Monday we had our big 20 week ultrasound and the tech wasn't able to get the heart shots she needed because this little stinker refused to move - it was laying with its back and butt facing out and everything else was facing in towards my inside.  We tried the same thing - I ate a granola bar, went to the bathroom, went for a walk, but the baby had decided it was naptime and wasn't going to move!  The good thing is that I get to go in next Monday to hopefully get the heart views she needed - I think I'm going to bring some caffeine with me this time :)  We also decided not to find out what we are having - Grace was a surprise and we wanted this one to be too, although for some reason it's a lot harder for me to not find out this time around.  I was secretly hoping that it would be blatantly obvious when we went in, but I didn't see anything that looked like one or the other :)  At least I'm over half-way there, only 19 weeks to go!!  I started feeling the baby move about 3 weeks ago and it's so nice because it gives me the reassurance that everything is going okay.  I'm really starting to think it's a boy just because of how much more movement there already has been compared to Grace.  But if you believe the old wives' tale about the heartbeat rate then it's a girl because both this baby and Grace had heartbeats in the 160's.  I guess we'll see!

16 weeks

20 weeks

The other big milestone that happened is that Jeff and I spent the night away from Grace for the first time.  We went to Savannah, GA for 3 days and 2 nights.  Our 10 year anniversary is coming up at the end of June, but since I will be pretty much 9 months pregnant then we knew we wouldn't be going then, or after this baby is born!  I also didn't want the first time I was away from Grace to be when I went to the hospital to have the baby so we figured this would be a good thing for all of us.  I was super-nervous before we left and didn't know how I would survive that long without her, but I did a lot better than I thought I would.  It was definitely nice for Jeff and I to have some alone time together and for me to be someone other than Grace's mom.  Jeff laughed at me when I told him that I felt like an adult while we were down there, but it's amazing how different it is to reconnect with yourself as a non-mom.  It was so nice to eat a meal and only worry about feeding myself!!  We had a great time - the weather was in the 80's when we got there but some storms moved through and the next 2 days were only in the low 60's/high 50's.  I was a little disappointed because I had been hoping for warmer weather but we still had fun.  Savannah is absolutely beautiful and is a great city to walk around and explore even if you've never been there before.  We ate at Paula Deen's restaurant and drove to Tybee Island and saw the ocean.  I highly recommend going to Savannah for a getaway weekend!  My dad stayed at our house and watched Grace - as far as I can tell she didn't really miss us, which was a good and bad thing for me!!

The fountain in Forsyth Park, where part of
Forrest Gump was filmed.

And last but not least, here are pictures of some sweaters I made for Christmas - I made one for Eliana, Grace and Caden, the son of Grace's godparents.  It was the first time I had crocheted anything other than blankets, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be!

Modeling the hat - she won't wear one
outside, but she wore this one around
the house for almost an hour!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Birthdays

It's been a busy month around here.  Grace celebrated her second Christmas and was definitely more into it than last year.  She wasn't as excited about opening presents as I thought she would be - every time she would rip a piece of paper off she had to go throw it away right away before she would try to take any more paper off (guess she got some of that anal-retentiveness from me :) )  but there were definitely certain presents that got her excited.  Her current favorites are the Dirt Devil cleaning supplies (broom, dustpan, duster) and the doctor kit for her baby dolls.  She likes to take the lotion bottle from the doctor kit and put "lotion" on everyone's hands and cheeks!  She has also started getting diapers from her room and trying to put them on her dolls, although her technique needs a little work - she usually lays the diaper on the floor, sets the baby on top of it and calls it good! 

Ringing the bell ornament

Going night-night on the pillow!

Grace was able to see her cousin Eliana (who celebrated her 2nd birthday on the 24th with uncle Jeff) and they had a lot of fun playing together.  It was probably the first time they've been together that they actually interacted really well with each other and played with toys together.  At one point they were both in the kitchen while all the adults were in the living room and we could hear them giggling together and it was so cute!  Of course that meant we had to go in there right away to see what they were getting into!!

BFF's!

With the Weidmayer cousins - Sarah, Megan and Michael

 Right before Christmas we think Grace came down with norovirus, or something similar, which was not fun.  She had taken a nap and when I went in to get her there was poop all over the crib mattress and her clothes, and her - it was disgusting.  I put her right in the bathtub (thankfully Jeff got home from work about 5 minutes after I discovered it) and put all her bedding in the wash and scrubbed down the crib - it was not fun for a nauseous pregnant woman!!  About an hour or so later Grace was playing in the living room and I was making dinner in the kitchen and I went to peek at her and as I was walking to the living room this really strong sulphur-like smell hit me and I made Jeff come up from working in the basement to help me figure out what it was (I was worried that a toilet was leaking gas or something) and he jokingly asked, "Are you sure it's not your daughter?" and well, it was!!!  This diaper had just started leaking and it's a good thing we caught it when we did because it was pure liquid.  SO GROSS!!  We didn't have anymore diaper issues after that, thank goodness, but it probably took her a good week or so to start wanting to eat much food again.  The unfortunate part was that she ended up giving it to me, so I spent the week after Christmas feeling like crap and laying on the couch hoping it wouldn't affect the pregnancy.  I'm so glad that Jeff had that week off because I don't know how I would have taken care of Grace by myself. 

Modeling daddy's coat

Other than that Grace has been doing pretty good.  She's getting her upper "canine" teeth, which always seems to give her a runny nose and has made her crabbier than usual.  The "no" phase has seemed to lessen a bit which has made my life much better and she is learning more words almost everyday.  I was trying to teach her to say microwave and I was breaking it down into micro and wave and when I said wave, she started actually waving :)  It's funny how literal everything is to a toddler and as an adult you don't really realize it. 

Check out the mohawk!

As for me and baby #2, we're officially in the second trimester now, which is supposed to be the best one, so I'm hoping to start getting more energy and motivation soon.  The nausea has gone away but I'm still exhausted all the time, but that is mainly due to having to get up 4-5 times every night to pee.  I don't remember it being this bad with Grace, especially this early.  It's so annoying because it seems like by the time I fall asleep, I'm getting up to go again over and over.  I really hope this gets better soon otherwise I'm going to be pretty useless for the next 6 months or so. 

I did have a little "scare" a few weeks ago - I had gone in for the sequential screen ultrasound (where they look at the baby to see if they see any signs of certain birth defects) and while the tech was doing the ultrasound she asked if I had a fibroid because she thought something she saw looked like one.  As far as I know I don't have any (or ever have) but once she said that I was freaking out about it, and she also said I have a "retrograded uterus" (which means it's tilted back some instead of straight up and down) and when I looked it up on the Internet multiple sites talked about how this can cause potential miscarriages, so it was not a good day for me!!  I called my OB the next day and talked to the nurse, but she said they didn't have the results yet and would call me back when they did.  She finally called me yesterday (a WEEK LATER) and told me everything looked good, but I was so ticked that I have been having to stress about this for an entire week.  I really miss the old nurse that my OB had - if I ever had any concerns she would call me back within a day and was super-understanding about why I was so nervous about everything.  I think I am going to have to mention this to my doctor when I see her next week - I went to her because she specialized in people with fertility issues, and if her nurse can't be more understanding of how people feel who have had fertility issues maybe she needs to go to a different practice.  It sucks because I absolutely love my doctor, but you have to go through the nurse to ask the doctor questions or get info. 

On 1/11 Toby celebrated his 9th birthday.  He enjoyed his annual birthday dinner of spaghetti noodles.  If you notice in the second picture, he ate them so fast that I couldn't even get the picture taken before they were gone!!  Grace thought it was hilarious that we sang to him and he got to eat "noo-noo" (noodles).  It's so hard to believe that Toby is already 9 - I can't even imagine my life without him in it.  So far he is aging really well and doesn't have any major issues and I keep praying that it continues this way and we get to have him around for a lot longer.  He is so special to our family and I love to see him and Grace together, and I want this next baby to get to know him too.

Begging for the treat!

And it's already gone!

So, that's about it around here.  Sorry this post is so late - my motivation levels just aren't where I'd like them to be these days!!