1 month!

Eva Jasmine, you are 1 month old today!

Oh you sweet little girl, how can you already be a month old? I feel like we came home from the hospital yesterday!

*If I was guessing your weight, I would guess about 10 lbs. You were 9 lbs at your 2 week checkup, and you look like you have grown quite a bit to me since then. You wear newborn and 0-3 months, just depending on what it is. We just started you in size 1 diapers yesterday. You have been in newborns for the majority of your first month. You have such a long torso but your legs are short! You have chubby cheeks and your belly is pretty round, but your arms and legs are pretty thin. This is literally the EXACT OPPOSITE of how your sister was. (except for the cheeks) It's crazy how different you two are built--for now!

*You eat 4 oz every 3-4 hours. You have a very good appetite. You don't spit up hardly at all, but you have the hiccups ALL of the time-seriously, after every meal and sometimes in between. And you are gassy! We changed up your formula and I think it made a little bit of difference, but you are definitely still having gas issues. It doesn't make you cry or anything, but I can tell you are uncomfortable because you draw up your little legs and grunt. I have been giving you gripe water too, and that almost instantly kills the hiccups. I still feel so lucky that you do so well on your formula.

*You still sleep a lot. You are starting to be awake more and more, but still sleep several hours out of the day. You sleep great at night for a newborn, only waking up to eat around midnight and between 3 and 4 a.m. and then you usually go right back to sleep. You have started to sleep in a little later so you get up around 7 a.m. or so. For now you are in the bassinet in our room, but when you drop that midnight feeding, we will move you to your room which is right across the hall. You have taken a few naps in your bed and seem to sleep pretty well in there. You being in our room is simply a convenience for me and also to keep you from waking up your sister!

*You have started to follow voices with your eyes a little and I am seeing more neck control just here the past few days. If we lay you on your belly, you can turn your head from side to side, but you aren't really a fan of being on your belly unless you are laying on Daddy's or my chest. We'll start enforcing this more in the next month or so. Tummy time is tricky anyway, because I have to be on full watch for your wild and crazy sister! She wants to be right on top of you 24/7! :)

*You still have lots of dark brown hair and your eyes are dark blue for now. Everyone keeps telling me that you'll lose that hair and you just might--but maybe not? I can't tell what your eye color will be. Your sister had dark blue eyes at first and now they are a bluish green & gorgeous! I may end up with two blue eyed girls even though your Daddy has brown eyes and I have hazel.

*You still grunt. All.of.the.time. For a baby who rarely cries, you sure are a noisy little thing!

Today there was a shooting at an elementary school in Connecticuit. I have been so sad all day just thinking about it. It doesn't take a tragedy for me to realize how blessed I am to have my two healthy, beautiful girls--but it sure makes me want to cling to them even more.

Everyone talks about after you have your first child you think you could never love another child as much, and then of course when the second one is born, you do. I will be the first to admit that I have been obsessed with Isabel for her whole 19 months of life and I was afraid that there might be some sort of favoritism toward her and that is just not the case at all.

We are so in love with you Eva and thankful that God chose us to be your parents!!!! You have completed our family (we think...)perfectly! :)

The traumatizing of Isabel Jade...

Sounds like a horror film. It's not--not when two sweet babies are involved. I want to update about my 19 month old because she is doing SO many things that I want to write down and remember, but I also want to talk about her reaction to us bringing home a new baby. And here is that little tidbit:

As I mentioned in my birth story post, due to the NICU thing and our quick release from the hospital, Isabel didn't get to meet her sister until we were home with her. She had come to the hospital with my sister just moments after Eva was born, but it was too late--they had already taken Eva back. So I was excited to let Isabel see her. I was even a little cranky about my Dad running all over the state of Arkansas with Isabel instead of bringing her home on my timeline, but I got over that pretty quick. Haha. Anyway, Isabel came home and when we got her to focus long enough to see that there was a baby in the room, she came and looked at her, said "baby" a few times and then went on about her business. It wasn't quite the ordeal I had anticipated. Lol. So, here I am thinking that Isabel is just too young and sort of indifferent about it all. Wrong. As the days went on, Isabel would literally say the word "baby" at LEAST 20 times a day. That is probably an understatement. She got obsessed with the fact that there was a baby in the house and she also wanted to kiss her head over and over again, several times a day. It was all nice reactions, there didn't seem to be any jealousy or anything negative, but at the same time I was worried that she was so fixated on the baby that it was affecting her little mind. She would wake up in the morning and first word out of her mouth would be "baby". Her naptime was cut in half and I swear it's because she was dreaming about the baby and waking up. She spent the night with my parents one night and had a big, huge, meltdown which was the first time they had experienced that, and I just know it was because she was away from the baby. I started to worry that we had really messed with her head. Slowly but surely she is adjusting. Like I said, there is no jealousy or negativity, she just cannot get it out of her head that there is a baby. Every kid we see anywhere is a baby. She carries a baby doll with her 24/7 and gives it bottles and pacifiers. She still wants to kiss her multiple times a day and try to poke her head, but she is getting better each day. I hope that she will always love her baby sister and want to be around her, but MAYBE take it down a notch or two. :)

Isabel stats:

I really won't know exact height and weight again until her 2 year checkup unless we have to go to the doctor for another reason. I will try to weigh her at home before I update again, but my estimate is about 23 lbs. She was 22.9 at her 18 month checkup.
She takes one nap a day for about 1.5-2 hours and goes to bed around 8-8:30 pm. She normally wakes up around 7:30 am. I'm thankful for this. We have had phases where the sleeping was not so great.

Favorite foods: applesauce, string cheese, crackers, raisins, yogurt covered raisins, MILK, oatmeal, bananas, spaghetti, chicken penne pasta, hot dogs, cereal, green beans, mac-n-cheese, fruit snacks, etc. Honestly, she likes just about everything.

Favorite toys: ELMO anything. Seriously on a big Elmo kick right now. Baby dolls, shopping cart, books, stickers, anything that sings or makes noise (we seem to have a lot of this), her baby doll's pack n play, buckets of any kind. We have like 12 Halloween buckets and she loves to carry them around and put stuff in them. Same goes for Easter baskets. WHY do we have so many of these? lol

She says a lot of words. She basically repeats anything that is easy enough for her to say. I know there is no way I can list them all and not forget something, but here are several new phrases & words "Oh no!", "Uh oh", "I want dat", "ELMO!!!" "Elmo on dat" (meaning turn Elmo videos on my Kindle Fire which she has recently taken over), "boots", "shoes", "pee pee", "stinky", "eyes", "nose", "arm", "purple", "blue", "green", "goose", "boobies" (sigh), "baby bath" and so many more!

She still loves baths and being outside. She is still throwing the occasional temper tantrum and they are INTENSE! She is learning about timeouts and being swatted on the rear end. She loves to give kisses and hugs, but has recently stopped letting her daddy hold her before bedtime. She'd rather just be put in bed and that makes her daddy sad!!!

She still has such a funny personality! Such a joy to our lives!

We are so excited about Christmas this year with our feisty little toddler (and baby too).

2 week checkup, Randoms, & Resolutions

I have re-read my birth story post a few times and I keep laughing at a few things. 1) I think I said "super" 42 times. 2) Half of the time I seperated the names of medicines with a period in between letters in order to keep my blog from popping up when people search those terms on the internet. HALF of the time. I totally forgot to do it the other half which made the whole thing pointless. 3) Lately I have been basically just making fragmented sentences into my own langauge. I could go back and edit all of this and maybe I will someday, but meanwhile just try to remember that I am too tired to proofread or care too much right now. The fact that I am even making time to blog astounds me.

Another thing: I mostly surf the web, blog, facebook, etc. from my Kindle Fire. For whatever reason, I cannot leave comments on blogs from that device. I am still following your blogs. Specifically, SHANNY--I wanted to comment so badly on your interview with your husband and could not make it happen. That post was hilarious.

This next thing is about to make me sound 120 years old, but I just want to say that I cannot understand men in brightly colored skinny jeans--or skinny jeans at all really. It could be that I am from the South and when we see it here, it's rare. I just cannot imagine my husband wearing that stuff OR having gauged ears. That's another trend that I cannot figure out. Why would you want to stretch out your earlobes? That goes for the ladies too. It's just something I cannot wrap my head around.

I think there is something else that I wanted to address, but it has left me. Moving on...

Yesterday was Eva's 2 week checkup with her Pediatrician. I will absolutely be doing monthly updates on her and doing the cute little monthly pictures, but because this was just a 2 weeker, I am just giving the stats. She weighed 9 lbs even (up 10 oz from birth) and was 21 1/4 inches long (up 1/2 inch from birth). Basically, she is growing like a weed. It was 69% for weight and 79% for height. The height thing cracks me up. She isn't short by any means, but she has a long torso and shorter legs so she can still wear NB sized clothes and does still wear NB sized diapers, even at 9 lbs. Her sister never wore NB anything. Ha!
We had a few things that we asked the doctor about. She has a tiny bump on the outside of her ear and I was worried it might be a cyst or something. It's just the way the cartilage grew and her doctor says it will barely be noticeable as she grows, but if it's something she hates, it can be removed. (eventually)
I also was concerned that her belly button hadn't healed properly. It's sort of half innie and half outie right now. Her cord fell off right at a week old while Isabel's had fallen off at like 15 days old....so Isabel's was completely healed at that time and Eva's is still healing. Everything checked out perfect. The doctor told us not to change a thing. That always makes you feel good as a parent. She is a healthy little girl, thank you Lord!
And now I am going to go ahead and jinx myself real good. This baby is SO mellow. Isabel was such a good baby and I thought there would be no way that I'd be 2 for 2 with easy babies but as of now (it's still early) Eva is just as easy if not more so than Isabel was. She eats great, she sleeps FANTASTIC, and I can seriously count on one hand how many times I have heard her cry since she was born. She just never gets upset and when she does it's a little grunting here and there and that is all. Besides eating, she sleeps through the night and will sleep anywhere: bassinet, swing, car seat, in my arms...anywhere. Now....next month I may be singing a different tune, but for now we have just been so blessed with easy babies. Don't get me wrong--I'm exhausted. Living on 3 hour intervals will do that to you, not to mention my first "easy baby" is now a wild and crazy toddler that I chase around all the livelong day, but I know it could be so so so much harder.

My last topic on the world's longest post: Resolutions.

I don't normally do the whole new year resolution thing. It seems like a surefire way to set myself up for failure, but this year I have a few that I'd like to mention and start early. I'm thinking if I start now, then I will already be in the swing of things by Jan 1st...so maybe it's not really a resolution?

1) My walk with God.
-This will always need improvement. Always. Why not make it a goal to try to end next year in a better spiritual place? I have a LOT to thank God for and I need to make way way way more time for him than I currently do. I'm hoping to work on that first and foremost.
2) My body.
-Eeeek. 2 babies in 2 years. I'm ready to find my body under all of this mess. When I checked into the hospital to have Eva, I had gained 37 lbs of pregnancy weight. I have lost 25 lbs in 2 weeks while not dieting or exercising at all, but that last 12 will be killer and it's not technically the "last 12". I had about 15 lbs of fertility drug weight on me before my pregnancies and probably another 10-15 that I wanted to lose before that. That adds up. I have 40 lbs I still want to get rid of. It seems like an overwhelming amount, but it's my goal. In a couple of weeks I will turn 29 years old, meaning I have one year until I hit 30 and I am NOT doing it fat. It's just not happening. So....my plan is to *try* to update on my weight loss about every 6 weeks. I am hoping this blog will keep me accountable. My first goal: I want every single pound of pregnancy weight gone by my 6 week checkup, which is 12/26. 12 more lbs in the next few weeks. I can do this!!!
3) Running.
-I don't love running--my husband does. My husband's best friend does. My husband's best friend's wife who is a good friend of mine, does. My neighbor friend does. My Mom's co-workers/friends do. I AM SURROUNDED by runners. What I do like? How I feel when I am done running. How I feel when I accomplish new goals. How I feel when I finish a 5k. How it feels to lose weight. All of this makes it worth it. I have a goal to run four 5k's this year. That's VERY realistic if I can just work my schedule around my babies. I am out of shape though. I haven't ran a 5-k in 13 months, and I was pregnant for nearly 10 of those. I have work to do.
4) Healthy eating/cooking.
-This may be the very hardest for me. I don't even know how to go about it, because my husband and I HATE just about every type of veggie out there except potatoes. Haha. But I am going to figure it out and I am going to teach my children to eat healthy and I am going to stop putting trash into my body. (except for diet coke....can't commit to that yet) :)


I typed them. I put them on the internet for all of my followers (3 of you?) to see. Now, I want to be able to post that I have accomplished them. Wish me luck!!!!

Eva's Birth Story

I keep thinking that I need to write this before any of the details get fuzzy, but I am still in shock about how it all went down. If I didn't have a sweet little baby here next to me, I might wonder if I dreamt it all. When you read this, you'll probably think...sounds pretty normal to me. That's just it! After how dramatic I was about delivering my first baby, I fully expected to be dramatic about this one. I was geared up for it! And to my pleasent surprise....it wasn't that bad. ;)

I went in for my final doctor's appointment on Nov 7th and my doctor told me that I still wasn't dilated at all. He asked me if I wanted to go ahead and have a baby the next week (at 39 weeks) and I very much said yes. So, I checked into the hospital on 11/13 to start the Cytotek process and begin my induction. I was able to check into the hospital, fully prepared. Bags packed, camera in tow, clean house, & freshly painted finger and toe nails. Ridiculous in the scheme of things, but hey--it was nice. So anyway, I got to the hospital at 8 pm, and was due for my first Cy.totek dose at 10 pm. Prior to that I changed into the lovely buttcrack gown, had my blood taken, peed in a cup and had 234 hospital bracelets attached to my arms. Oh and then there was the IV. I got that too. All of it was pretty uneventful. BUT, when it came time for my cervix pill, the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a 3! WHOA! I was pretty certain that I don't dilate without drugs. That had proved to be my thing and I was just surprised that one week made that much difference. Nevertheless, I was supposed to have 2-3 doses of cervix pill and she immediately knocked it down to 1 dose because the others weren't necessary if I was dilating on my own plus it could cause the baby distress.

So, 10:00 pm was my first dose. She came back and checked me at 1:30 am and I was at a 4. So no MAJOR change, but a change nonetheless. They had tried to give me an Am.bien like they did with my first birth and I turned it down this time. Sleeping doesn't happen anyway when someone is running in and out the door checking you for dilation and checking your vitals and I just wanted to do the least amount of drugs possible, EXCLUDING my epi.dural. :)
Nurse comes back in at around 4 a.m. and starts my Pitocin. I am still dilated to a 4 and just barely feeling contractions. She tells me that my doc said I could have my epi whenever I was ready. I decided to hold off for awhile. (with my first baby I got it when I was at a 3) By 5 a.m., I was requesting it. My nurse suggested that I take another form of pain meds until the epi guy could get there, and I refused. Less is more. By the time he got there...close to 6 a.m., I was uncomfortable. Not writhing in pain, but ready for some relief. So he gives me the epi, all goes smoothly with that except that it hurt worse this time than I remember last time, but whatever. They put in my catheter. (eww) My doctor arrives at 6:30 a.m. By this time the pitocin was cranked up high and my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, but my legs were numb so I was alright. Haha. At 6:30 he broke my water. I was still dilated between 4-5 and my Mom and MIL had started to text JT around 7 a.m. to check out the situation. He just told them to take their time. I was between 4-5 and had been for awhile. We were geared up for a long day ahead.

So, around 8 a.m. or so, I start feeling major pressure. It was taking my breath away, but once again NOTHING like what I felt with Isabel. When the nurse comes in, I tell her I am feeling a ton of pressure and she checks me. I am at a 9!!!!! A 9, I said!!!! In one hour I had gone from a 4/5 to a 9 and she tells me just to let her know when I am ready to push. My parents and in-laws had JUST arrived and about peed themselves when I told them what was up.
They stayed in the room for like MAYBE 30 minutes and I kept feeling the pressure but it didn't seem to be getting worse. Finally, I was like...hmm, maybe I can push now?? So my family leaves the room at about 9 a.m. The nurse comes in to check me and I am fully dilated and probably had been for a little bit. I get the go ahead to push and after about 3 sets of pushing, they are calling for the doctor and telling me to hold off on pushing. (will never understand why they tell you this, as if you have any control) Dr. M comes in the room I do 1 1/2 more sets of pushing and then I have a baby on my chest. 9:21 a.m!!! It was INSANE how quickly I was able to push her out. 15 minutes of pushing versus the 1 hour and 45 minutes I pushed with Isabel.
So, like I said our family leaves the room at 9 and by 9:40 or so they are standing right back in the room with me.

But of course I have to bring SOME drama to the table. When Eva arrived she was making a little bit of a grunting noise. I would have thought nothing of it, because it sounded exactly like every other newborn I have ever heard, but the nurse heard something I didn't. So they ran a tube down her throat :( and sucked out some bloody fluid that they said she had swallowed. We wait a few minutes, she is still grunting, and so they whisk her off to the NICU to "check things out". My family comes into the room and the nurses have told me that within a couple of hours they will bring her back to me after they make sure everything is okay. I get a shower, get moved to another room and still haven't heard anything. My new nurse who I called "Jessica Simpson" behind her back, because I still to this day have no idea how she is an RN or obtained a job, had no idea at all what I was talking about. She kept asking dumb questions like, "So you had a baby this morning?".....seriously. I was not that nice to her I don't think. Eventually I felt bad because she was super nice....but she was super dumb and they weren't bringing back my baby and she had no idea what was going on. So, about 2.5 hours after birthing an 8lb 6 oz baby, having an episiotomy, and being stitched right back up, I am marching full speed down the hallway to demand answers from the NICU people. I was just super irritated about the lack of communication. If my child needs observation, FINE, but you need to keep me informed. I had literally seen her for like 10 minutes before they took her away. And now I had visitors showing up and no baby to show for my efforts. And nothing to tell anyone. I stomp right into the NICU, get rude with the secretary, and then stand with my arms crossed next to my baby waiting for a nurse to come fill me in. Finally, I get her NICU nurse to agree to call me as soon as they know something and to give me a time frame on when she would see the Pedia.trician.

Long story short, they did x-rays and took blood and everything was perfect. After ALLLLL of that they determined that I have a "noisy baby". SIGH. They finally brought her back to my room at 4:30 p.m., 7 hours after I gave birth to her!!! And we got to go home the very next morning. SUPER short hospital stay, especially considering I didn't even see her much the first day of her life.
Disclaimer: I know I am so blessed that there was nothing wrong with her and that her stay was one day. We did the 10 day NICU stay with Isabel and it was horrible and I still knew I was blessed that her issues were so minor when there were babies fighting for their lives in there. I don't want to sound like a total butt. I KNOW that we were lucky. My problem was with the communication of the staff. Just wanted to clear that up.

My Mom and I keep discussing how weird it all was. Super short labor and super short stay with a long day in the NICU in between. We had all of these people wanting to visit on Thurs night and Friday day, and we were home well before then. It was just weird. Good weird, because I didn't want to be in the hospital, but still....weird.

I have had people ask me why I think this time was so different than the last. Well, it was my 2nd baby and I am sure that had something to do with it, but also I had WAY less drugs in my system. Last time I had gotten sick and threw up while I was in labor...not this time. Not even queasy. This baby was still a big baby, but quite a bit smaller than my first and her head was over an inch smaller than Isabel's. I would imagine that made a difference too!


My healing process has been about the same both times. It's been 10 days and I still have pain, but it gets better every day. My stitches should come out soon if they haven't already. The difference has been that I have to care for a toddler while trying to heal. Goodness. Underestimated that part for sure.

All in all, I ended up with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. A short and "easier" delivery. And a very short hospital stay. So thankful.


Introducing to you....

Eva Jasmine

11/14/12 9:21 a.m.

8lb 6 oz, 20 3/4 inches

Last pregnancy post! 39 weeks, 2 days!

Being induced in the morning! Here are my final stats:

Maternity clothes?
Yes, definitely.

Stretch marks? Yes. Basically the same ones as last time, I think...just reappeared. Can't wait for my Dermatologist to hook me up with the fadey medicine like he did last time!


Best moment this week: Well, I've just been low key, hanging out with Isabel & trying to stay on top of housework so there is nothing to stress about at home. It's all been good.

Miss Anything? I'm just ready to not have heartburn. That is all.

Movement: Oh yes. I thought it was supposed to slow down in the end, but it hasn't. Not with either of my babies.
Food cravings: I guess chocolate. Maybe. Food is just food right now and I know I'm going to have to chase whatever it is, with Tums.

Anything making you queasy or sick?: Thinking about labor! Haha. Not really, I feel good right now. Just huge.

Have you started to show yet: You better believe it. ;-)

Gender: It's a GIRL! Eva Jasmine


Labor Signs: I should be able to say yes here, but not really. A few contractions here and there I *think*, but I'm not even sure about those. I've never had BH contractions so I don't even know what those feel like. Or maybe I have and didn't know it...



Belly Button in or out? Flat. Partly in, but mostly flat. And ugly.

Wedding rings on or off? I haven't worn that bad boy in a while. It still fits, it's just uncomfortable and I am looking forward to putting it back on in a few weeks hopefully.

Mood: Anxious. A little (whole lot) emotional. Excited, too.
Next post will hopefully be about how easy my labor was and how healthy my baby is. Fingers crossed!

Anxiety!

I am 37 weeks & 4 days pregnant. Yesterday, I had an appointment with my OB and we did an ultrasound to estimate the size of Eva. At 36 weeks with Isabel, she was estimated at 8.5 and ended up weighing 9.11 at birth. People always want to say to me, "oh those ultrasounds are off most of the time, mine said this and the baby weighed that" and while I know that's true--they pretty much nailed it with my first baby, so I have no reason to believe that they aren't at least close with this one. At 37 weeks and 3 days they estimated E at 7.11. So, what that means is that she's smaller, but not small. She could still gain 1.5 lbs if I deliver at 40 weeks. My doc was hoping to keep her under 8 if possible. Anyway--I'm not dilated at all and the ultrasound tech says that with the size of this baby's head, she doesn't think I will dilate on my own. Same as with Isabel. Eva measured chunky and short which cracks me up because I'm not short, my husband is not short and we have very few short family members. My sister is over 6 feet tall, for Pete's sake. But we'll see how it goes. I can tell you that I'm not looking forward to birthing that biggo head. ;)
Nevertheless, she looked good and healthy and seems to be thriving in my uterus and that's all I could really pray for anyway. The rest of it we'll get through. I go back to my OB on Wednesday of next week (if I don't go into labor before then) and he says we'll schedule an induction date at that time.
I said this in the last post, but I really actually want to be induced. I have a fear of going into labor on my own and rushing around and forgetting something. Or having my "plan" for what to do with Isabel while I'm in the hospital be messed up. Ridiculous stuff in the big scheme of things, but that's me being honest. That is where my anxiety stems from right now--worrying about my Baby #1. I've had a good pregnancy up to now, with the exception of the craziness that went on in the 1st trimester. I feel good, mostly. Uncomfortable bending, sitting or sleeping, but good. Haha. I'm just down to the last couple of weeks and it feels like the first 36 flew by and now the last 4 are dragging. I guess it's like that for most people. I'm just trying to suck up these last few days with Isabel as an only child. And me getting to sleep at night. ;)
Here is a pic of my sweet family on Halloween night. And if you look in the dictionary beside "pregnant face", you will see my picture.

18 months and (almost) 37 weeks! Quick update!

I have maybe 7 minutes until my child wakes up from her nap, so I wanted to update real quick.

On the 21st, Isabel turned 1.5 years old! She had a doctor appt yesterday and she weighed 22.9 lbs (15%tile) and was 31 3/4 inches long (50%tile). I'm concerned that the kid is just not growing, but her doctor says she is completely healthy and at the age where kids are too busy to eat. He also said that for the year, she has gained a sufficient amount of weight and that she is probably just at a standstill. I do know one thing--the is one of the most "active" kids that I have ever been around. My Mom is always commenting on things that she does that my sister and I just never did. (example: climbing, trying to escape any form of confinement, flipping out because she hates high chairs at ANY public eating establisment, etc.). But even with all of that going on, she has still never once attempted to climb out of her crib. So for now, she still hasn't bumped up to a toddler bed and I am SO HAPPY about that.
Just recently she has started telling us "stinky" and patting the back of her diaper, or squeezing the front of it when it's wet. I feel like maybe she is ready to experiment with potty training, except that MOMMY IS NOT!!! I had planned to start this madness after the first of the year when I had developed a bit of a routine with my 2 under 2, but my child constantly teaches me that we're on her schedule....not mine. :)
Other than that--her sleeping is good 60% of the time and NOT about 40% of the time. I'm hoping this is a phase because she used to be such a good sleeper.
She takes one nap right in the middle of the day and for about 2-2.5 hours. She is wearing 12-18 months in clothing. Mostly 18 months for the length. She wears a size 4 diaper and a size 5 shoe.
She has really started to repeat us and it's funny. Some newer things that she's been saying/repeating: "good grief!", "oh no!", "diaper", "Pedro" (the dog), & of course she says Momma, Daddy, Mammaw, Pappaw, Nanny, Pop....all of the relatives names. She calls my sister (Jodi) "Joji". She still speaks a lot of jibberish too. Just like her Dad. ;-)
Halloween is this week and she is going as a watermelon. Super scary! Haha. We took her this past week to a pumpkin patch and had her pics made and let her "pick out a pumpkin". Mostly she just ran around poking all the pumpkins and even took a bite out of one. LOL!

And me? Well, I'm still pregnant. In fact, I had a doc appt yesterday and was not dilated, at all. Apparently both of my girls have found my uterus to be a very hospitable enviroment and just have no desire to come out of there on their own. We will have an ultrasound next week to estimate the size of this baby and then decide from there about induction. Honestly? I want to be induced. I have no desire at all to go into labor on my own. I just want to know that Isabel is taken care of and her routine isn't messed up, and that JT has time to put in for some vacation days, and that my house is clean and my nails are done...haha. I'm mostly kidding about the last part, but people, I like a PLAN!
I feel fine. A little uncomfortable when trying to do anything physical, and I definitely feel pressure on the hips, but I think I actually feel better this time than I did last time. No swelling at all. My blood pressure has been perfect. Good things. I've gained about 32 lbs. YIKES. With Isabel it was 35 and I went 4 days over my due date...so it's safe to say I may be gaining a little more than that this time even though EVERYONE keeps telling me I am smaller (looking) this time around. I know it's just that the weight distributed differently.

And there you have it, Miss Isabel has awakened. :) Gotta go.

17 months and 31 weeks! From a terrible blogger...

Lately I have been laying in bed at night, not sleeping, and thinking about things I would like to blog about. I hope that soon enough I will start making this a regular thing again, because I actually do enjoy it and I like knowing I can look back to see our journey. (I hate when people say journey, lol)

I am 31 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. For now, everything seems pretty normal (Thank God). I am getting to the stage where I have a hard time sleeping at night because that seems to be when Eva is the most active. I also have the lovely heartburn again like I did with Isabel. Everything gives it to me. It waited a little longer to show it's ugly face this pregnancy, but it's here full throttle now. And last, but CERTAINLY not least, and I am not exaggerating at all, I get up to pee between 15-20 times a night. No lie. I remember making many bathroom trips with my last pregnancy, but NOTHING like this. I don't know if it's because the baby likes to hang out in the bladder area 24/7 or if it's because my poor bladder has taken a beating in the past 2 years so I'm just more sensitive to the "urge", but I have to say....I don't care for this part at all. And occasionally she will kick and it will be all I can do to make it to the bathroom without wetting myself. And there you have it....a paragraph about my peeing habits. Ha.
My weight: Eeesh. My doctor says I've gained 21 lbs. I say I have gained 26. And I know I'm right, but I don't tell him that. I had a 6 pound month last time and now I am already at 3 for this month and I don't see the doctor for over another week. I'm in trouble. My excuse? I don't have one. I never wanted anything sweet when I was pregnant with Isabel and now I eat something sweet every day. I guess that's the difference. Honestly, I'm still not far from where I was last time. I have a goal of 35. I really think it will be closer to 40 if I have her close to her due date.
I keep doing a lot of comparing pregnancies. I feel like I will probably do a lot of comparing kids too. Not in a negative way, but I think it will be neat to compare sizes, personalities, likes/dislikes. I can't wait to see how alike or different they will be. My husband and I joke that because they were actually fertilized in the same dish at the same time, they are basically twins, just 18-19 months apart. Is your mind blown? Mine is.
I still feel really great, which you wouldn't know, because I am pretty cranky I hear. Or maybe it's emotional. My husband likes to let me know when I'm acting a fool. I've not had the back pain like I did with Isabel, but instead I feel almost constant pressure on my hips. It's weird. Not really painful, but maybe a little uncomfortable.
Belly button: Still way in. I don't expect it to get flat or poke out because it didn't last time either. And I don't have any sign of the dark like that a lot of women get on their bellies.
 I feel like my pregnancy has been 8 weeks long instead of nearly 8 months. It really has flown by and it makes me a little nervous that in 2 months I will have 2 under 2. Wowza! We are ready! Well....her room is ready, her laundry is clean, and we have everything that we need with the exception of minor things like diapers. I haven't packed for the hospital and probably won't for 3-4 more weeks. I feel like it would jinx it and she would come way early, and I don't want that. We have a diaper shower coming up this Saturday and SURELY I will have some pictures to post from that. Next.

My little girl is 17 months old! Or at least she will be on Friday. I just want her to slooowwww down, oh my goodness!
She weighs about 23 lbs. That's the reading that we get on the scales at home, because her next checkup isn't until the end of October. We just officially moved up to size 4 diapers and she is wearing 18 months in most things and still 12 months in a few things. She has a tiny waist, but she seems to be pretty long. Lately I have had several people comment on how long she looks. She's finally getting some hair. I mean we won't be taking her for a haircut for another 2 years or so (haha), but there is definitely some dark hair growing in and it gets crazy when she sleeps on it! It looks like it is going to be kind of auburn like mine. Brown, but in the sun you can see quite a bit of red. And her eyebrows look red too.
She likes a lot of healthy foods. This makes me proud. My eating is terrible and I don't want her to be picky like I am. She loves bananas, apples, pears, cottage cheese, green beans, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, etc. Of course, I haven't found much that she doesn't like--but those are the healthier things that I try to incorporate in on a daily basis. :)
She has 10 teeth. Well, I'd say 8 and 2 halves. Lol. 2 of them are barely poking through the gums, but they're there. And she bites me when I try to feel them.
She is officially a toddler. And what I mean by that is that she is hilarious and she mimics things that are on tv, or that her Dad and I say. She especially mimics the dog. She gets into everything. She throws temper tantrums like a crazy person, and I now have refused to take her grocery shopping with me anymore because I leave the store with $400 worth the stuff and have no idea what I've bought when I get in the car. Haha! I just want to make clear that I adore every single thing that she does. I love her like I didn't even know was possible, I'm just trying to get the point across that we MAY be in the "terrible two" stretch. :)
She still talks jibberish alllll of the time and it's so cute. But she knows lots of words too. There are several, but a couple of the newer ones are "tickle", "burp", and "nah".
She sleeps great. Goes to bed between 8:00-8:30 and wakes up between 7:00 and 8:30. She generally takes 2 naps during the day or 1 big one (3 hours) it just depends. Perfect. I hope it stays that way after Eva is born.
She still loves to be outside and she will come grab one of our hands and try to pull us to the door. Or she will just sit by the door and cry until you take her out. Rain or shine. It could be thundering and lightning outside and she will still be trying to go out.
She has learned to give kisses and hugs and boy do I like this part! She also brings her stuffed animals and baby dolls to us for us to kiss.
I of course am on a schedule here, so I will wrap this up--but we are just feeling so blessed to be having 2 girls after all the mess we went through to get here and I would love for time to just SLOW down!

23 weeks and 15 months!

I am so overdue for an update. I'll start by saying that a few weeks ago we found out that Baby #2 is a little girl! Eva Jasmine :) I don't guess I ever blogged about what gender we were hoping for, probably because we don't do the whole "gender hoping" thing. When you work this hard to bring a baby into the world, all you can pray/hope for is that he/she is healthy and that your pregnancy goes to full term. Or that is my opinion anyway. I'll be honest and say that I know that my husband would love to have a little boy someday, but not at the expense of not having any of his girls. I've said over and over again that I am done gestating (on purpose anyway). If God surprises us with a baby in the future, boy or girl, we will be thrilled. I just can't see me doing IVF again. I feel like we have been very blessed that IVF worked for us 2/3 times. I don't want to mess with that and I am content with my 2 kiddos, but hey--we'll see what happens! I wouldn't say that adoption is out of the question for us either. Moving on....so here I am at 23 weeks and here are the stats:

Total weight gain/loss: +20! Insane! Actually the crazy thing is that when I got pregnant with Eva, I weighed exactly what I weighed when I got pregnant with Isabel. And at this point with Isabel, I had gained the same amount of weight. So if everything stays on track, I am ok with it. I gained 35 with Isabel, I can deal with that.


Maternity clothes? Maternity shorts and jeans and a couple of dresses. I still wear quite a few non-maternity dresses and tops/tanks. I have some maternity tops and I have worn a couple, but most just aren't fitting right yet.


Stretch marks? No new ones.


Best moment this week: This has been a pretty uneventful week. All good. :)


Miss Anything? comfortable, smaller bras


Movement: Yes. I am to the point now that if I don't feel her for a few hours, I start to worry. And I can see movement now as well.


Food cravings: fruit, pickles & cheeseburgers. Not all together. Ok, together is fine.


Anything making you queasy or sick?: Nope.
Have you started to show yet: Yeah. I still have people who say, "I can't even tell you're pregnant." There is absolutely no possible way that you can't tell. Those people are either trying to be nice, or they think that I drink a lot of beer, because the belly is there.

Gender: It's a GIRL! Eva Jasmine

Labor Signs: Nope.


Belly Button in or out? In. It never went out with Isabel, so I'd be surprised if it did this time.



Wedding rings on or off? Off more than on. It still fits, I mean I'm not swollen or anything, but it's 1 billion degrees outside and I have stopped putting on jewelry altogether. Even earrings, which is not like me at all. People are lucky that I'm still choosing to wear clothing at all.


Mood: I'd say cloudy with a chance of rain. haha! Most of the time, I'm just fine. I feel irritated when I deal with the public, read most facebook posts, or realize that my husband has *once again* not "heard" something that I know I told him. But other than that....I'm fine. LOL


And on to Miss Priss!

Isabel, at 15 months you:

*Weigh 22 lbs exactly. I actually typed most of this post on Sunday and then waited until today to post so that I could get the correct weight at your checkup. Anyway--you are 30 3/4 inches long. 50%tile on height, weight and head measurement. You wear a size 3 or 4 diaper. I've been trying a little bit of both lately because you seem to be right in between. You just moved up to a size 5 shoe. You still wear 12-18 months in clothing. 18 on top and 12 on bottom usually. You have 7 teeth. 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.
*Sleep: Well....you were sleeping like a champ for a long, long time...and then Mom & Dad were geniuses and decided to move you to a different bedroom and use your old room as Eva's nursery. And now you wake up 476565 times a night most nights. You still sleep to around 8 or 9 most mornings, but it's probably because you're tired from getting up and down all night. Hoping you adjust soon!
You still take 1 or 2 naps a day. We have a routine but not really, meaning...when you wake up in the morning, you're up for 3 hours before you are ready for a nap. Depending on how late you wake up, decides if you take a 2nd nap or not. And sometimes your naps are 1 1/2 hours or sometimes they're 3 hours. I let you sleep as long as you want. No regrets there.
*You drink loads of whole milk. You love the stuff. You're not big on eating much these days. Somedays are better than others. You're just too busy!!! Things that I can usually get down you are: graham crackers, goldfish crackers, cheese, green beans, applesauce, cheese roll ups (tortilla with cheese), bread with butter, rice, spaghetti, cereal, bananas, cereal bars (your fave), and of course cookies or popsicles when I let you have them.
*You say: mama, daddy, nanny, cheese, juice, bath, bubbles, pop, woof woof, bawk bawk bawk, moo, Hi, bye-bye, yeah, no no, night night and "dat?" for..."what's that?" And just in the past couple of days you are trying to say "giraffe" which is maybe the cutest thing to ever happen to anyone...ever. :)
*You still love water, whether it's bath or pool. And you still love to be outside, but I haven't been letting you out there too much unless we're swimming. It's TOOOO HOTTTT!
*You are wild and crazy! On the go, all of the time! You like to test Mommy and Daddy. Somedays, I feel like I wake up saying, "no no" and go to bed saying "no no" and I'm afraid that you just aren't that scared of me, haha. Your Dad can say no in his "daddy voice" and you fall apart.
*You are also sooo sweet. You have clingy days where you just want me to hold you and carry you a lot. You like to bring me books and then crawl up in my lap for me to read them. You hug your teddy bears and baby dolls and lay on them and say "night night".
*You are FUNNY! You sit in the cart at Wal-Mart and wave and say "Hi!" to everyone. Except it sounds like "Hyyeee", all southern like. You like to pretend that the dog is chasing you and "run" from him, but really you stay at the same pace and your legs fly all over the place. SO FUNNY! You make goofy faces, and have learned to fake laugh at the most random times.
We love you little girl! Let's slow down on the growing up if we could, okay?

18 weeks! And an Isabel update.

How far along? 18 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: +10, I think. I haven't weighed in a couple of days, but that's where I was according to my scales.


Maternity clothes? Maternity shorts and jeans and a couple of dresses. I still wear quite a few non-maternity dresses and tops/tanks. I have some maternity tops and I have worn a couple, but most just aren't fitting right yet.


Stretch marks? No new ones.


Best moment this week: Due to yet another scare, I had an impromptu ultrasound and got to see and hear the little guy/girl. I was by myself, so when the ultrasound tech asked if I wanted to know the gender....SIGH, I had to tell her no. My husband would have been pretty upset with me. So, we find out next week.


Miss Anything? Not really. In the grand scheme of things, 9 months isn't long enough to *miss* a whole lot when you consider that it's long enough to build a baby!


Movement: Yes. I actually found out last week that I have anterior placenta again (no longer previa, which is good news), so I was expecting it to be a little longer. But I have felt a little bit of movement a couple different days this week. It's pretty scarce though.


Food cravings: I'm having a hard time eating at home. EVERYTHING sounds gross in comparison to eating out (mostly fast food)....which is horrible. I made a solemn vow to my husband that I would not eat out this week.


Anything making you queasy or sick?: I *think* the morning sickness is over. This past week was much better. I've learned what sets it off and have been steering clear of those things.

Have you started to show yet: I'd say yes. Or atleast to people who know me. Strangers might wonder...


Gender: First trimester I would have bet on a girl. Now, I keep thinking boy. I'm ready to know, one way or the other and I'm MORE ready to know that he/she is healthy and measuring right on track.


Labor Signs: Nope.


Belly Button in or out? In.



Wedding rings on or off? On for now.



Mood: I'm good. I feel just fine and I've been so busy with a toddler that this pregnancy is flying by. I'm always nervous that something will go wrong. I think that just comes from a combination of our struggles to have children AND my raging hormones. I will say that I don't think my poor soul could handle very many pregnancies. I live in fear for most of 9 months. And this time around I have been living at the doctor's office because of the bleeding that I have been having, which of course does nothing to help my worries! But, so far, everything is perfect. Just praying that it stays that way.

On to my sweet girl who is *almost* 14 months old!!!!! Geez!!!!

Isabel, at this age you:


*Wear mostly 12 months in clothes with a few 18 month tops thrown in. Size 4 shoe. Size 3 diaper. You weigh right at 20 lbs. I always over-estimate your weight on these updates, but you just had a doc appt last week and weighed 20.3 fully dressed. You're teeny and perfect. :)
* You're still getting into everything and climbing on stuff. Yesterday in the church nursery, you climbed up on the baby swing and slammed your head into the wall. You didn't shed a tear, but had a nice little bump on your noggin'. Ha.
You like to challenge your Mom and Dad with getting in/on stuff that you've been told "no" to several times. You have a ornery little grin when you're doing it, which it makes it hard to stay consistent! But we have been. And you still HATE the word "No".
*Your eating has been weird lately. It's not that your picky, it's that you don't want anything. You think you're too busy to take out the time to eat. But you drink 700 cups of milk a day and snack on and off. Lately you have been eating tons of crackers, because you can eat them on the go. Wild woman!
*You've mostly started taking 1 nap a day instead of 2. I do not care for this change!!! Haha, but the upside is that you have been sleeping in longer in the morning. You go to bed around 8:15pm and sleep until 7 or 8 most mornings. You take a 2-3 hour nap right in the middle of the day and that seems to be the new schedule.
*TEETH! You have some! Haha. You went from 2-6 like within a week, I swear. You have 3 on top and 3 on bottom. And you no longer want us to brush them...which is a nightly fight.
*You are a water baby!!! You LOVE swimming!!! You still love to be outside just in general. It honestly affects your mood on the days where we are inside all day. You still love your wagon and you love to swing. You like to play in the dirt. I think I have a tomboy on my hands. :)

*You don't want to wear shoes. When I put them on you, you sit down and take them right back off. I haven't been fighting it too much, but when Fall gets here, we may be duct taping them on your feet.
*You recently have found a love for books! You constantly bring me different books to read. All day, every day. Haha! And there are a few that I seriously read 10-15 times a day because you hand them to me and grunt. I love this. I have always been a big reader, and I started reading before kindergarten....if there is anything that I want you to get from me, it's this!

*You are starting to say more words and I don't want to forget them. You say "mama", "DAD!", "bubbles", "pop", "bawk, bawk, bawk" (for a chicken), "moooo", "Hi!", "Bye Bye", "Na Na" (for Nanny). You mimic all sorts of sounds, mostly when your Dad says them. You know where your eyes and your tongue are. You are finally learning to clap and "throw them in the air" during patty cake. And well, I am just fairly certain that you're a genius. :)

We are having such a blast with you and trying to soak up these last few months of having just you before your new brother/sister gets here. We sure love you, little girl!!!

15 weeks!

I'm just going to do this in paragraph form instead of the cutesy little weekly update thing....this time.
Today I am officially 15 weeks pregnant. I've gained around 5 lbs and I am starting to look a little bit pregnant, especially in maternity clothes which I am wearing about half the time. I feel good but there are a few underlying issues. I have had bleeding on and off for the entire pregnancy. Originally, I had a subchorionic hemorrhage and I had to "take it easy" until we could see how that would turn out...thankfully it repaired itself. Then, I started having the bleeding again and found out that I have placenta previa. So...I am on bi-weekly OB appointments to monitor that and I have landed myself some extra ultrasounds too, which I am not complaining about. So far, everything is fine--baby looks good. But if you're familiar with placenta previa you know that there is the possibility that I will have a c-section, IF it doesn't correct itself in the next few months. Until then, I can't go walking, clean house, etc. pretty much all I am allowed to do is take care of my child....which is activity enough, according to my doctor. Moving on....

I am hungry pretty much 24/7 and I wouldn't say I am "craving" anything in particular except that I am in love with fast food. Of all kinds. So good for me.

I had absolutely no morning sickness in the 1st trimester and then starting at week 13 I have been sick every single morning. LOL...go figure. Nevertheless, I have gotten my energy back and beyond the sickness in the morning and constant trips to the OB I actually feel good. Sleeping fine. Peeing a lot. Haha.

I will eventually take belly pictures. I am terrible about doing that.

12 weeks! (+2 days)

I can already tell that these updates won't be as frequent as they were the 1st time around. Back then (last year, haha) I sat at a computer for 8 hours a day....now I usually only get online from my Kindle Fire and I can't update from there....but anyway, we are no less excited this time around and I will update when possible.

How far along? 12 weeks. I thought I would feel more reassured at this point, but then I have been sick and medicating myself for a week now, and that makes me nervous. I HATE to take medicine while I'm pregnant. But...I did see my OB late last week and everything was okay at that time. I need ultrasounds weekly. I am spoiled to having them every 10 days at my fertility clinic.
Total weight gain/loss: +3. I will have to go back and look, but I think I was up like 10 at this point last time. And I weighed the same when I got pregnant this time as I did last time. BUT, I have been sick for a week and my appetite hasn't been great. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

Maternity clothes? No tops. I'll be honest, I have worn some maternity jeans a few times because my normal jeans are just uncomfortable. But I take 2 steps and pull them up. Clothes just aren't my friend right now. And I hate the bella band. HATE it. Will not wear that stupid stupid thing.

Stretch marks? Not so far, unless they are hiding behind the ones from last time. Lol.

Best moment this week: I did get to hear the heartbeat so that was nice, but other than that this week has been terrible.

Miss Anything? Nope. Well, I guess softball because I would be playing right now otherwise.

Movement: No. I didn't feel Isabel until like 22 weeks because I had an anterior placenta. Not sure what to expect this time.


Food cravings: This week, nothing. But before that Chinese. Or pretty much anything bad for me.
Anything making you queasy or sick: I have been coughing so much that it is making me gag, but I don't think that is pregnancy related. I haven't had morning sickness at all.

Have you started to show yet: I'm in the lumpy stage. Like where you can tell my belly is bigger but not necessarily that I'm pregnant. Maternitly clothes look stupid and regular clothes look stupid. I don't want to rush this at all but at the same time I am ready to just look pregnant and wear the clothes to go with it.
Gender: ???? I think it's a girl just based on the fact that my pregnancy symptoms/cravings etc. have been identical to my pregnancy with Isabel. And because I know roughly 40 women having babies right now and like 37 of them are girls.
Labor Signs: Nope.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On for now.


Mood: Other than being sick and cranky because of that, I am good. I always worry, but that's just how it goes for me. The worries never stop.

(hoping to post pictures at the next update...whenever that is) :)

Holy Updates!

I'll just get right to it and then I'll explain all of the details. 2 pretty major things have happened since I last blogged...well technically, one of them happened on March 1st, but anyway...
My sweet Isabel turned 1 on April 21st!!!! And we are expecting Baby #2 in November!



Isabel at 12 months old you:

*Wear a size 12 months in clothes, size 3 or 4 in shoes and a size 3 diaper. I honestly don't have a clue what you weigh but we'll find out this week at your checkup. If I was guessing...20-21 lbs.

* You are walking all over the place. And climbing. And you want to be outside 24/7.

*You haven't had formula or a bottle in over a month and you weren't phased by the change at all. I can only hope that you'll be this easy when it comes to taking away the paci and potty training. A Mom can dream, right?

*You sleep through the night almost always. You had a week or so this month that was a little off, but you also have a new tooth breaking through on top and I figure that has something to do with it.

*So teeth....you still have the 2 bottom front, and are just now starting to get 1 on the top. I will have to learn the technical names for the teeth pretty soon.

*You still love baths and the dogs, not only ours but other people's as well. You play well with your toys and books and normally keep yourself pretty entertained throughout the day. You love to swing and to ride around in your new wagon.

*You still take 2 naps a day, one mid-morning and one in the afternoon.

*You are mastering the fit-throwing which can be stressful and cute all at the same time. "No" is not your favorite word. You also tend to throw a fit if I try to feed you with a spoon. You want to pick up EVERYTHING with your hands and eat it. Mashed potatoes included.

*You still love everyone. No strangers in your world. You are happy go lucky most of the time and just a joy to be around honestly.

You turned 1 and it was bittersweet. You ran (rolled) your first 5k with your Daddy and then had a big birthday party at church yesterday evening. I stayed so busy that I didn't have a lot of time to be sad about you turning 1. And you had such a good time eating cake and playing with kids that it was hard to be anything but happy. We love you so much!!!! Happy Birthday sweetie.

And on to that other thing.... :)

Since announcing my pregnancy I have had 3 people inbox me on FB to ask if this was planned. Hahahaha! The irony is astounding. Of course it was planned. It's not likely that my husband and I will ever have a "surprise" baby. I know anything can happen, but....anyway.

To make a long story short, we went back to the fertility clinic on January 4th to start the process for FET #2. I started bc, and then lupron injections and then estrogen patches with baby aspirin and then progesterone injections and then antibiotics. Oh did I add prenatals too?!?! Anyway, we did all of that and then our FET was on March 1st. On March 12th (the day before my 8th wedding anniversary) we found out it worked!!!! I was standing at the zoo looking at a giraffe when I got the call....think I should decorate the next nursery in giraffes? :)

So...I had to see my RE for the first 9 weeks of pregnancy and then this past week I was released to my local OB. I have not had a single moment of morning sickness (I didn't with Isabel, either), only fatigue and extreme hunger! We had a little bit of a scare in that I had a sub.chorionic hem.orrhage during week 7 and that scared the crap out of me of course, but since then it has repaired and everything seems to be fine. Today...I am 10 weeks pregnant. Due November 18th, and my children are scheduled to be 19 months apart. That seems to be another FAQ. :) Oh, and there is only 1 baby in there. lol

I've always heard that you show quicker with your 2nd baby. I'd like to add that for me not only am I having my 2nd baby but I just had my first 1 year ago...so the combo is giving me quite the belly at 10 weeks along. Ha! I'm not one to get hung up on the weight part of pregnancy...as long as the baby is healthy. So far I haven't actually gained a lb. but it looks like I have a beer belly. :)

So devoted blog followers (CJ) there is your update. :)

11 Months!

Isabel Jade! How in the world are you 11 months old? I know every Mom thinks that the time flies by, but it goes by quicker with you than any other baby, I'm sure of it. :)

At this age you:

*Wear a size 12 months in most clothing. You're still very small-waisted and you have a couple of 6-9 month skirts that are just now fitting. You are in a size 3 shoe and size 3 diaper. You haven't had a checkup in awhile but I would estimate you at around 19 lbs.

*You sleep through the night...sometimes. Ha! I don't really know what to tell people when they ask, because this week....yes, you are sleeping through the night. Last week? Not so much. You still take 2 naps during the day. One mid-morning and one in the afternoon.

*We are about done with formula. I still give you a bottle first thing in the morning, always. And then some nights I give you a bottle before bed. It just depends on what time you ate dinner. You are doing so well on whole milk in a sippy and table food, that you really don't seem to care about your bottle one way or the other. I can't even list all of the things that you are eating now. Pretty much, if you can chew it and it's relatively healthy, I give it to you.

*Speaking of chewing, you still just have the 2 teeth on the bottom. They are so cute that I don't even care if you ever get anymore. I'm kidding of course.

*Oh there is this one minor detail and it is that you are WALKING!!!! You started a little over a week ago. I wouldn't enter you in a marathon just yet, because you still prefer to crawl. But every day you are getting braver and taking more steps. And just this week you started standing up without pulling up on anything. You've been into everything since you started crawling at 6 months, but now....oh my gosh. Well, it's taken me 3 attempts to type this post...so far.

*You say ma-ma, da-da, and "yeah". Pretty positive that you have no idea what "yeah" means, but it's still cute. You talk all of the time. All day long with the jibberish. It's pretty adorable. You also scream and shriek and squeal all day long and that is mostly cute too. Ha.

*I've learned that I can keep you content in the cart at the grocery store, just so long as you have a sippy cup, a bowl of puffs, and a random grocery item up front with you. If I forget any of the above, I end up carrying you and pushing the cart at the same time.

*Randoms: You are so funny. Always smiling and making the goofiest faces. You never meet a stranger which scares me a little. You have learned to steal the dog's toy and squeak it 1 million times until he finally pounces on you. You like for Daddy to put you on his back and run around the yard with you. You've started to want to share your food with Mommy and Daddy, regardless of how slimy that particular food is. :) You laugh about most things. You give really slobbery kisses. You LOVE bathtime. You've only been sick a couple of times-we have been so lucky. You're such a sweet girl, really. I can't imagine an easier baby than you. I'm sure that your future siblings will give us a run for our money. It only seems fair. Haha.

*While I'm talking about how sweet you are I want to go ahead and add that you have learned to throw fits. This is pretty recent, so I almost forgot it although I don't see how. You can throw a fit with the best of them!!! They are few and far between, but oh man. Things that cause fits: not feeding you fast enough, making you lay down in your bed for sleeping purposes, putting you in the playpen so that I can go to the restroom, taking anything away from you, Daddy telling you "no" (you laugh when I say it), etc.

So I've blinked and 11 months have gone by and I am planning a birthday party for my sweet tiny baby, who isn't tiny at all anymore. So bittersweet. Your Dad and I are so excited to see you grow up, but don't be in any hurry about it, okay?

10 months!

On Feburary 21, you turned 10 months old!!!

At this age you:

*Weigh 18 lbs, and wear sizes 9 months and 12 months in clothing. Wear a size 3 diaper and a size 2 shoe. (tiny feet)

* Eat 2-3 6 oz bottles of formula a day, but other than that you are eating table food/baby food. You are sort of over the pureed stuff unless it comes in a squeeze pouch that you can suck it out of. Haha. You love Mum Mums, applesauce from the pouch, puffs, yogurt melts, Danimals yogurt, and beef sticks as far as baby food goes. Otherwise you like mac-n-cheese, fruit cocktail and graham crackers, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, corn, cheesy rice and ice cream. You are such a good eater. Always have been!

Until lately we haven't been able to get you to drink much juice, which is fine...I know that you're not supposed to have much because the sugar is bad for your teeth...but recently we realized that you LOVE Juicy Juice, apple juice in the box. You can use a straw like a champ! You're still hit and miss with the sippy cups and I keep trying to find which one you do the best with. Today was a good sippy cup day. :) You also still love that paci!

*You say "ma-ma", "da-da", and a lot of jibberish. You make hilarious noises that sound like you're trying to clear your throat...except that you're not. You make a creepy noise that sounds like the kid from "The Grudge" haha. You are so ornery. You're into everything and just recently learned to climb which has been intense. You are SO curious about everything and rarely sit still. You love to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and we have made it part of our early morning routine. You go to bed about 8 p.m., wake up around 4 a.m. (yikes) and sometimes I can get you to go right back to sleep after a diaper change...and other times I give you a bottle and you go back to sleep. I don't care that it's a no-no. :) And then you're usually up for the day around 6 a.m. or so, which is when we watch Mickey. You generally take 2 naps, one around 9 a.m. and one around 1 p.m. and they are usually 1-2 hours a piece. Sometimes you will take a nap around 5 p.m. as well.

*You love to be outside! You love dogs and kids of any age. You just crack up everytime you see either.

*You still have 2 bottom teeth and I don't really see more on their way just yet.

*You are still crawling, cruising the furniture and standing without holding on. Occasionally we can get you to let go and take 1-2 steps, but usually you squat down as soon as you realize that no one is holding on.

*You just recently learned "peek-a-boo". You will squat down and I will say "Where's my Isabel?" and then you will pop up and I say "boo!". This goes on for a long long time, but I love every second of it.

You also know how to "roll em' up" (patty cake), but don't have any interest in clapping your hands or "throwing them in the pan". :)

*You love to have your teeth brushed. Momma is glad for this.
*You still love bathtime and you are a wild child in there. You squeal and splash and are wanting to spend more and more time in there.

This is a long update, but you do SOOO much now that I don't want to forget it...and I know that I am leaving some things out.

This is such a fun age and you keep us laughing all day long. We still love you very, very much sweet girl.

9 months!!!!

(clearly, these monthly pics have gotten a little more difficult, haha)

Isabel, on January 21st, you turned 9 months old!!!!

At 9 months you:

*Wear a size 6-9 months, 9 months and very few 12 months clothes.

*Wear a size 3 diaper

*Wear a size 2 shoe

*You have 2 teeth!!!! This just happened in the past month. You are also starting to stand for a few seconds at a time without holding onto anything.

*You have started taking baths in the big tub and I put your little whale bathtub away. You love to crawl around and splash, and stand up which makes me nervous. We bought you a bath mat and a ducky faucet cover in order to prevent injuries, haha.

*You say "ma-ma" and "bye bye" although I am certain you have no idea what they mean. You will also wave hi and bye bye and you actually do know what that means.

*You still LOVE Pedro. He does not feel the same about you, lol.

*You are still eating about the same as last month. A few 6 oz bottles a day, and a few 4 oz bottles with baby food. We have also started experimenting more with table food, and you are doing well with those. This month you tried, french toast, ice cream, chocolate chip cookie, graham cracker, baked beans, cottage cheese, a little bit of taco meat....and probably a few more things that I am forgetting. Honestly, you have been a good eater since birth. The only thing that you actually don't like is juice, which I hear is a good thing altough I find it odd. Haha. We have been trying to introduce you to the sippy cup and you do okay sometimes and other times it enrages you. lol

*I am not sure exactly what you weigh, you have a checkup tomorrow...but I am going to guess between 19-20 lbs.

*You love to chitter chatter and squeal. The other day, your Daddy and I were driving in a much bigger town than the one we live in and we were lost and trying to read a map (conveniently left Tom.Tom in other car) and you were screaming and squealing and we couldn't help but crack up. STRESS! Haha.

*You love to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! You will sit still for most cartoons or animated shows for a little while, but that seems to be your fave. You also love the Hugg.ies slip on diaper commercial and sadly, the Hum.ane Society commercials make you giggle. I know it's just because you see the animals, but I always tell your Dad it's a little creepy that you laugh at those sad little guys. Haha. There is also another commercial where a pig squeals that you love...and I hate that commercial!!!!

*You are in to everything, but you have been this way for a few months. You follow me everywhere that I go (crawling) and you can bust out of playyard like it's not even a challenge.

*Like always, you are the best thing to happen to your Daddy and me and I look forward to watching you grow up, although I hope you take your time. :)

*I stand corrected: You weighed, 17 lbs 11oz. 27 inches long 30%tile on both.