32 Weeks

I've definitely grown in the last couple of weeks! At my last doctor's appointment a few weeks ago they told me (surprise, surprise) that I'm measuring small. The doctor told me to make sure I get enough protein in my diet and to not be afraid to splurge a little. I made Ben hide the milkshake maker, but I think the girl scout cookies did their job. I have another appointment this week and I'm curious to see if I'm still measuring small, because nothing about me feels small right now.

Twinkies!

Elizabeth made Alison and I matching dresses and I think they are absolutely perfect for Easter. Hopefully my belly still fits in the dress then, but I'm so excited to wear them. Alison looks so grown up in it. She was twirling around the house in her new dress and said, "Mommy, now I'm a princess and you're a princess!"

Recovery Mode

I thought I better post before everyone thought we were dead. A mysterious flu bug snuck into our house and invaded. Alison woke up in the middle of night last Wednesday throwing up and continued for about the next 8 hours. Pedialyte became my best friend...and so did the washing machine. By Friday Alison was back to her normal toddler self and my challenge became trying to keep from doing too much and still get some good rest. Then, Ben came home early from work Friday sick. I've never seen someone so sick. Saturday I quarantined Ben and Alison and disinfected every inch of the house and did massive amounts of laundry. We've been throw up free for several days, but Ben is still not feeling all the way better and Alison told me several times yesterday that she didn't feel good. Alison giving Daddy a get better kiss

As for me, by the grace of God, I was spared. I know there were a lot of prayers said for me and the baby's protection and they were certainly answered. I've had ups and downs of feeling okay and then not so great. But I feel like it's my body's way of fighting hard to stay healthy and as long as I get good rest and plenty of food I feel pretty good. I feel like my body knows it can't even go there, so it better do whatever it has to to stay healthy. Hopefully soon we'll all be back to 100%.

A couple of days ago Alison was playing with her letters on the refrigerator. If she puts letters into the "Letter Factory" it tells her what sound the letter makes and then will say the word she's made. She left to play with something else and I turned around to find she had spelled her first word! I couldn't stop laughing. My daughter's first word to spell is SIN and don't you love how it's right next to her memory verse?!

30 Weeks

Baby Boy Alison


I thought it would be interesting to take a picture at the same stage of pregnancy in the same shirt with different babies. I thought I was much bigger this time, but I guess I'm really not. You can tell we've moved from Michigan just by looking at my hair.








It's getting harder to hold Alison. She doesn't seem to mind, but baby brother sure gives her some good kicks when she's sitting on him. Sleeping has been a million times better lately and my trips to the potty have even decreased (Ben says that means I need to drink more water, but I'm taking it as a blessing of more sleep).
Alison is very excited to be a big sister. This afternoon movement from the baby's room caught my attention as I walked by. I stepped in the room to find a baby doll in the swing...and the swing was on. I found Alison and asked her if she did that. She said yes and told me I needed to whisper because the baby was sleeping. She then proceeded to give "baby brother" a bottle and cover him with a blanket. She's been in there all afternoon giving him rattles, practicing buckling the bouncy seat and even playing the mobile for him. I think she's ready for this little guy to get here.

'A' is for ME!

We've started working on learning letters. My goal is to focus on one letter a week, so naturally we started with 'A'. I hadn't intended on starting our 'A' activities until Monday, but Alison was anxious to read our A books from the library, so we got a little head start. We told her the sound the letter 'A' makes and that Alison starts with 'A'. My little sponge caught on very quickly...except if you ask her what 'A' is for, she says, "ME!". 'M' is for mommy, just doesn't cut it as an explanation. She very clearly gets 'B' is for baby brother, 'D' is for daddy and can even sight read the words ant and box, but 'A' is still for me.

We have continued to go swimming once a week, but had to miss our "date" this week because we were out shopping for baby brother's bedding. We thought it would be a good idea to take her this morning when Ben could get in with her. It was a great idea in theory, except I forgot to pack his swimsuit. I still got in with for a few minutes, but she definitely needs some time with her daddy in the water. She's always been a water baby, but for some reason has become more timid about swimming (although you wouldn't be able to tell by the way she talks non-stop about going to the pool).

Here's the baby's new bedding. For some reason I get really excited about baby bedding. It's crazy, I know.
My goal was to just piece together the bedding instead of buying the expensive packages. It was a challenge, and one that's not over yet. This was the only single bumper I was able to find. I really like it and got a matching changing pad cover. I like the animal theme and was really excited to find the mobile. For some reason the mobile became a necessity for us with Alison-we used it ALL the time. My only hang up now is that I can't find a bed skirt or lamp shade. I also need some stuff to hang on the walls and am trying to come up with some creative not-expensive ideas. They had some cute wooden animals to hang on the wall at BabiesRUs, but they were crazy expensive. Sure, we got all that stuff for Alison, but #2 is a whole other story.

It was a snowy day today and perfect for snuggling and watching basketball. Alison had the life: a warm daddy who fed her fruit snacks and milk while a kitty kept her feet warm (I can't keep socks on her feet for longer than 5 minutes so Milo was really helping me out).

Don't forget your slimsloop!

Time is going by too fast!

Hello 3rd trimester!

I had a doctors appointment last week and the baby and I are still 100% healthy. I did realize at this appointment that they have my due date as April 24th instead of the 25th. I know it's only a day, but I thought I would mention it for those of you who have this baby's due date marked on your calendar. We have intentions to be ready for this baby early so we don't repeat the chaos we went through with Alison. If this baby comes when I went into labor with Alison, he'll be here in less than 8 weeks. The doctors have assured me that if I go into labor after 34 weeks they'll let me deliver the baby. They also told me this last visit that they too are planning on me having him early, since they feel like that's just my history, who I am and probably what's going to happen again. I have a lot to get done in the next 8 weeks, but ironically I feel like I'm nesting more for Alison than for the baby. I think we may have a name for the little guy, but I'm going to have to leave you all in suspense until he gets here.

Happy 2 1/2 Alison!

We celebrated Alison's half birthday tonight with some cupcakes. They were, as Alison correctly put it, delicious! Though I could live without the million questions I hear in this 2 1/2 year old stage, there are a lot of things I wouldn't change in the world. Like how she says, "I 'scuze please" when she's done with dinner or how she always wants to cuddle when she's wrapped up in her towel after a bath. I love the excitement in her eyes when we find a new princess book and how she'll sit with me in bed and talk about how life is going to be when baby brother comes (according to Alison, it involves a princess balloon and a new rocking horse). The past 2 1/2 years has been a blast...here's to many more half birthdays!

Snowed in

A big snow storm hit Virginia on Saturday. The storm was the talk of the town the week before and to be honest, I thought nothing of it. In the back of my head, I had plans to go baby shopping because I knew we'd only get a few flurries and everyone would be bunkered down in their houses. As it turns out, it snowed hard all day Saturday and we got about 5-6 inches. The whole town shut down, schools were canceled through Tuesday and church was even canceled. While I usually would have enjoyed being stuck at home with my family, Ben was in Kansas hunting and it just wasn't the same without him. I took Alison out Sunday to play. At first she was pretty timid and didn't want to walk without holding my hand. But after awhile she was chasing me around the yard, making snow angels and throwing snowballs. Our yard is now full of carrots because she wanted each snow angel to have a nose. I'm starting to go slightly stir crazy, but am trying to enjoy some down time with Alison. We broke out some flash cards and Alison thought it was the best game ever. I was shocked how quickly she picked up on some new concepts. Of course colors are her favorite, because she knows them the best, but she did really well working on shapes and numbers. Ben is home for the morning before leaving again for work and Alison was very excited to show him her new matching game.