January 2015

January is usually one of those months that seems to drag on slowly...but not this time!  With baby brother making his debut soon the month flew by.

Sleeping in her big girl room.  She is looking at the iPad in this picture, when did she become a little teenager?!

Mary, Henry and Charlie came over one Saturday night with tons of boy baby clothes to go through.  We ordered dinner and Elle showed off all her new toys from Santa.

Eric got a mini drone for Christmas and he has had fun flying it around the house.  Elle loves it but sometimes when he gets it out and starts flying it Elle will say, "Daddy, no!  Shhh, my baby's sleeping!"  She is referring to one of her 500 dolls or stuffed animals.

Giving brother one of his checkup's

My big girl trying pomegranate for the first time.  She liked them, but that could be because I told her they are fruit snacks. :)  Her legs look so long in these pictures!!

We have had some really nice weather this month which means weekends at the park!  Elle loves going to the park and normally cries when it's time to leave.  My germa-phobe nature is rubbing off on her though.  They were a few slides she wouldn't go down because they were dirty looking.

She loved climbing this little rock wall and sitting at the top.

My girl :)

One night we met Mary, Henry and Charlie at the Rec-Plex for some swimming.  I used to come here a lot to swim with friends in middle school so it felt so funny bringing the kiddos here.

Bear was a complete water baby!!  Mary would walk him under the little waterfalls and he would just smile has water was splashing in his face.  Elle tends to scream and run if she walks by the waterfall. :)  Henry was the first to proclaim he was done with swimming, since he hates his clothes being wet he striped naked in the pool area before Mary was able to get him back in the locker room to change.  We were dying laughing, this boy is so comfortable with no clothes on!

On Sunday's Elle and I usually head to the grocery store.  She wanted to bring her purse (the little Coach purse mom and dad gave her for her 1st Christmas) with her money (a quarter and a nickle) to pay for our groceries.  Anytime we would get near the checkout lanes she would immediately start asking for her purse.  She was so worried she would miss out on paying.  When we were checking out she got out her coins to pay, she was very shy but it was so adorable!!

Loves to tie her lovey around her neck like a scarf...

Eric, Elle and I went to see Paddington one night in the theater.  Eric picked her up at my mom's and got her set up with popcorn and pretzels at the theater and I met them there after work.  Elle really liked the movie and it managed to hold her attention the whole time.  Although now she asks to watch it at home, having a hard time explaining it's only at the theaters.

This big girl loves to brush her teeth.  In order for her to let me brush them first I pretend like I'm the dentist.  I come in the bathroom and say "Hi, I'm the dentist, what's your name?" then ask her to open her mouth, say cheese, etc.  She plays along every time.

We had a surprise baby sprinkle day thrown by Mary and Mom one Saturday, it was so much fun.  I want to write all about that in a separate post.

Elle loves going in my closet and trying on necklaces.  She wanted to wear this one to Target. :)  She still is so proud of the bracelets she picked out for me for Christmas.  She always says "Mama, I got you bracelets!" then gives me a big hug.  She then will say "Daddy said, no Eleanor!".  I guess when they were shopping she was touching everything and daddy telling her "no" really didn't sit well with her. :)

Sunday morning breakfast date with my little love bug.

Mary and Nick got Elle this Frozen karaoke machine for Christmas so we can have "Let It Go" concerts.

Popcorn and Curious George movie afternoon.

New slippers from MawMaw & PawPaw

Elle loves "swimming" in the bathtub in our room.  When it comes time to wet her hair I've finally taught her to throw her head back and close her eyes.  She make this expression every single time and holds it the entire time I'm pouring water on her head.

Last Saturday I had to work an expo for my work, Eric had to work as well so Elle went to MiMi's house for the day.  I was able to get off and meet them just in time for ice cream with Anna and Elsa from Frozen.  Elle and Henry were both pretty shy...but Hens fell in love with Elsa.  He now says she is his girlfriend. ;)

February should be a fun/crazy/exciting month.  Hard to believe this is my last monthly recap with Elle being an only child. :)

Baby Brother

It's almost baby time so I figured I would write a little recap on this pregnancy.

24 weeks pregnant

27 weeks pregnant

33 weeks pregnant

Elle likes to have her belly look like mommy's

I found out I was pregnant the day before Father's Day.  Eric was sleeping (he had to work that night) and Elle was napping so I was all alone to digest the news.  I immediately went and sat by my sleeping baby and cried wondering if she was ready for her world to change. I was excited...nervous...shocked...and emotional.  I snapped this picture because I always wanted to remember how little she was the day I found out she was going to be a big sister.  A friend of mine once told me "when you have your first baby, it's all about that baby...when you have your second baby, it's all about the first baby."  So true, I am constantly wondering how she will process this change.

Elle and I watched Charlie Bear the night I found out I was pregnant.  My mind was in hyper-drive all night picturing our life with 2 babies in less than 9 months.

I told Eric the following morning (Father's Day!).  He was surprised and so excited. :)  He's so laid back, his mind doesn't immediately worry like mine does.
Mary found out the following week, she asked me to go spray-tanning with her and after I said no she immediately said "your pregnant!".  A seester always know.  We told my mom, dad and Will on the 4th of July.  Actually it was the 3rd of July, we were at their house for a BBQ and I brought a cookie cake that said "Red, White, Blue and Baby #2!".  I was so nervous to set the cake down and everyone to see it but it took for-ev-er for them to notice!  Mary (trying to prompt them) even said "Seester the cake you brought is really cute!" so my mom went over to look at it, scanned the text and said "that is cute".  Finally, Will read it out load (still didn't figure it out) but as soon as my mom heard "baby #2" she started screaming for my dad to come back inside.  Apparently my dad was already suspicious after I turned down a glass of wine when we got there...mmm wine, I miss wine.

Cheesecake from my parents after we told them the big news.

For awhile before we found out the gender Elle would say she wants a girl.  Although one night I was talking to my mom and said "I would love another baby girl" to which Elle shouted "No!".  Every since then she always responded that she wants a boy. :)  I flip flopped every day on what I thought we would have.  However, the day of our 18 week ultrasound I was certain it was a boy...Eric still thinking it was a girl.  My doctor office was way behind on appointments that day so we had to wait forever!  I was so nervous...scared the baby would fall asleep and not be in a good position, but mostly because this was our first look at seeing him and making sure he is strong and healthy.  I asked Eric to pull up videos of Michael Scott from The Office on his phone in the waiting room to help calm me.  It did and I was immediately laughing.

Testing out the baby supplies at MawMaw & PawPaw's house

During our ultrasound the tech started going over everything and before she could say anything I said "OMG, look it's a boy!".  Usually during ultrasounds I nod along like I know what we are looking at but really don't have a clue so I was shocked that I actually was able to follow along and call out the gender before her. Eric was just in shock.  After the ultrasound we picked up the cupcakes I ordered and went to my parents house for dinner.  After we ate we had Elle dig into a cupcake to reveal she is getting a brother.  She started crying as soon as everyone starting screaming. :)

I have been sick a handful of times this prenancy but NOTHING like I was with Elle.  Smells don't bother me as much and my appetite was never effected.  Comparing the 2 pregnancies it is crazy to think how sick my sweet girl made me when pregnant.  I was a wreck and didn't even know it!  So glad that was my 1st experience and not my 2nd.  However, overall this pregnancy has been harder.  I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Elle, my whole body hurts.  Sleeping is touch and go, finding a comfortable position is near impossible and if I ever have to wake up to go to the bathroom (which is every night) it's a good 2 hours of trying to fall back asleep.  One constant between the two pregnancies is the acid reflux.  Oh my Lord, it's a doosie.  The wives tale about it meaning the baby has a lot of hair was true with Elle, so curious if it will be with this little boy.

Dr. Eleanor giving brother a check-up

He is a stinker and doesn't move a ton but when he does they are BIG kicks!  We did have a hiccup with his kidneys around 20 weeks.  They found fluid which was scary.  I had to go for an ultrasound at the beginning of my 3rd trimester to check his kidneys again and thank God the fluid was gone.  That was about 10 weeks of constant worry.  His weight and growth has been in the 30-50 percentile most of my pregnancy.  At our appointment on Monday they told us he weighs 7 lbs 12 oz and is in the 80th percentile...so little man went through a growth spurt!  He has a little bit of hair but not a ton which kind of surprised me.

Elle has been to a couple doctors appointments with us and was able to see an ultrasound.  After we leave the doctor she always tells brother he did such a good job at the doctor.

This blurry mess is the best you get when you ask Eric to take a picture.

So now we have less than a month to go.  We are working on finishing up his room and packing our hospital bags.  Elle tells me her baby hasn't been feeling good so she needs to pack a bag to take her baby to the hospital. :)  I'm going to miss this sweet girl so much when we are in the hospital.  She has been so amazing this pregnancy and seems really excited for brother to get here (she always refers to him as brother and rarely uses his name).  She seems really excited to help take care of him, changing diapers, feeding him bottles, baths are all things she says she wants to help with.  When we talk about her holding him she always says he will be too heavy.  I think she is thinking baby brother will be the same size Charlie Bear is now...if he is we are going to have some serious problems. :)

Practicing with her babies...this little boy better be ready for hands on big sister!

Elle also loves helping in his room and getting the bottles, carseats, etc. ready for him.  I know the transition for her won't be perfectly smooth but I do know she is going to be an amazing big sister.  We went to Target last weekend so she could pick out a gift to bring brother in the hospital, she really wanted to get him a set of drums or a car (not a little toy car) but settled for a little blue monkey instead.

Helping daddy put together furniture for his room

I'm in a big nesting spree now and am obsessed with any cleaning products that come in the Original Gain scent. I make constant trips to Target and Wal-Mart to buy more, I crave that smell...I even found the scent in an air-freshener for my car.  So curious if I will still enjoy the smell as much after he is born, I hope so because we have a whole lot of air-fresheners and cleaning products!  I spend most nights running room to room and cleaning like a crazy person.  Thankfully Elle loves to help clean with her little water bottle filled with water.  Only 2 weeks until my due date!  Hoping he holds out at least another week, we have a fun weekend planned for Eleanor. :)