nesting and exercising...

Hello from here in mommyland! We have been pretty busy doing all kinds of nesting things. Bill and are very close to finishing the painting downstairs which also has included rearranging of much furniture and shuffling around of "stuff." Our guest bedroom is now becoming the nursery/guest room so we had to take out all of the random things that we stashed in there after the move. We also got a new couch for our tv room and have been hanging up paintings that have been in bubble wrap since last year. Nothing like a baby to get you motivated to get stuff done! I have had the strongest nesting urges this pregnancy, I certainly don't remember it being like this when I was pregnant with Aubrey. I have been washing windows, cleaning out and reorganizing the attic, pantry, and closets, etc. It is hard for me to sit still and not be cleaning, I am always thinking of new projects!

All this painting, moving stuff, and cleaning has been hard on my back. So I decided that I would start to do some prenatal yoga--provided I could find a routine that was just about the stretching and breathing and not the more "spiritual" empty your mind mumbo jumbo. We get netflix so I found a good 45 minute routine on the instant play that I have been doing. Can I just say how wonderful it is? I always feel so much better after doing yoga--especially since I haven't been able get on the eliptical machine for a few weeks now (too many BH contractions so my dr. told me to take it easy). My back pain is so much better on the days that I do the yoga. I am also hopeful that doing the yoga will help me in my goal of having a natural, unmedicated birth.

It's a.......

GIRL! We are on team pink again. :) There is a picture of her head on the left and her round little body on the right. Her face is turned toward the viewer, you can see her nose is the white line in the middle. I think that she looks different than Aubrey did--her nose looks longer and her chin a bit pointier, maybe more like her Daddy. It is hard to tell for sure though because we didn't see Aubrey at the same angle for her ultrasound.

Everything looks healthy and perfect--and she was very cooperative for it. She even rolled over when the tech needed to look at her spine. Maybe the cooperation is a good sign. She was waving at us, we could see her eyes moving back and forth and then at one point she yawned and we even saw her tongue come out! Too cute! :)

She had us fooled though, we were all thinking she was a boy. It was such a fun surprise to see another little girl in there. And yes, we have a name, and no, we aren't sharing until she is born. We have to leave something to announce that day!

Cousins in Gramma's Sweaters

Kyle is almost 5 months old, Aubrey is 2 years and 4 months old. Aren't they cute? My mom knit them matching Nordic Christmas sweaters. :)

What's in a name?

As I near the halfway point of this pregnancy, my thoughts have turned more toward baby names. Next week we find out if we are having a girl or boy, but I think it is best to have a name picked out for each, just in case of a mistake! You do hear about that happening occasionally. We are pretty sure we have settled on a girl's name, it wasn't too hard this time around. A boy's name, on the other hand, has been a huge struggle. There is much less room for creativity with a boy, but the traditional names just seem so boring to me. I am trying to find a name that isn't so uncommon that people have to ask you to repeat yourself when you say the name, but isn't so common that everyone knows at least five of them. And then when I think I find a name I like, of course Bill doesn't like it!

Another name problem we have run into is that I tend to be drawn toward names that start with "A." But since I don't want to have a theme with our names we are going to try to avoid "A" names, at least this time around.

Other than the lack of sleep that I have been getting between pregnancy stuff and toddler woes, I can finally say I am feeling good! It took me just about until Thanksgiving to feel myself again, and even then I was having bad headaches. Those are gone for the most part, at least now they aren't an every evening occurance. I just don't understand those women who say they enjoy being pregnant! I am certainly not one of them...I may enjoy the outcome of having a baby, but would much rather just skip ahead to the good part. One thing I do enjoy now is feeling the baby moving around. I can tell the difference between kicks and rolls now--baby is a little acrobat in there. Bill felt some kicks the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and Aubrey got to feel one two days ago. It was fun to watch the expression on her face as she exclaimed, "Mommy, the baby in your tummy poked me!" Now she climbs up on my lap and says, "do you want to make the baby kick mommy?"

Major cravings lately: Grapefruit and cottage cheese (not together). mmm, I think i will go get a grapefruit now.

Fifteen weeks pregnant--have been feeling the baby move for a little while now. The very first time was on my birthday, three little nudges. It is pretty early to be feeling movement, so they are still few and far between. Just yesterday I had my hand in the right place and felt the kick from the outside as well as the inside. :) I am looking forward to when I can feel this little guy consistently--I hope this baby is as active as Aubrey was. Well, maybe minus the kicking in the ribs part.

I have a dr. appointment next week and then I guess I will be able to schedule the big ultrasound! It seems to be dragging really slowly, I really just want to find out the gender now! Everybody thinks that this one is a boy. Interestingly, all my friends who are having babies next year who know what they are having are having boys. When I was pregnant with Aubrey almost every single one of my friends who had a baby the same year as I did had a girl (that is at least six girls!) So maybe this will be the year of the boy...

Election Day

We voted for the first time in our new town yesterday. I love election days--they had tents out front, one for the GOP and one for the Dems. Under and around each tent milled people, greeting candidates, eating from the bounty of food that was provided, chatting and debating. It made me wish I was out there under that tent, providing info for the voters, just like I was three years ago in PA. This was such an encouraging election this time around, as opposed to the last two. In Virginia and New Jersey the GOP gained the governorship--people are starting to wake up. It has only been a year since BO took office, but we knew it wouldn't be too long before people started regretting that vote! We still don't have results in for our small town election here, things move at a slower pace. Maybe that's what I need to volunteer to help with next year--reporting results in a timely manner!

This was Aubrey's fourth election--the first one when I was pregnant with her, one when she was three months old, one year old, and this last one. The funniest one was the presidential one last year, we had to wait in line for hours to vote and Bill and I took turns chasing her around the gymnasium where we were and waiting in line. She kept picking up sample ballots and handing them to people. This time around she was VERY excited about the "I voted" stickers that we got, telling people as we walked by, "look, I got a sicker! And mommy's got a sicker too!"

This time around

I am going to try to get back into writing more on my blog, it is such a good way to document what is going on in my life, and honestly my brain isn't up to remembering all the details anymore! I have been enjoying going back and reading what I wrote when I was pregnant with Aubrey, and there are little things that I had forgotten. So this time around I am going to try to document everything so I can look back at these memories as well.

I am not sure if it is something to do with being pregnant for a second time, or if it is just because it is a different baby in there, or if it has something to do with having a toddler and therefore a lot more strain on my energy reserves, but the first trimester of this pregnancy was so much harder than last time around! I seriously felt nauseated before I took a pregnancy test (so before I was 4 weeks pregnant) and I still am not back to normal yet. The good news is, after 9 solid weeks of barely functioning, I am slowly coming back. Last time around I was sick only from weeks 7-11, I didn't know how good I had it! Also, last time I craved fruits and loved sweets. This time I am totally into the salty and really can't stand sweets, they taste off to me. Biggest craving so far: mashed potatoes. Yum, just thinking about them makes me want some right now! :)

Aubrey has been a good girl: even though I feel badly that I have been neglecting her somewhat. She now comes over when I am on the couch and pats my tummy and says, "you have a tiny baby in your tummy, Mom? She makes you feel sick?" She also covers her mouth and makes imitation gagging noises. Aubrey is convinced it is a girl, and also insists that we name her Archie, after a pony that she rode at a fair earlier this year. Yeah, that isn't going to happen.

Another interesting thing about this time around is that I am growing out of my pants so much faster! I guess my abdominal muscles gave up a lot faster this time around since they know the drill. I don't really look pregnant to a stranger yet, just like I have been enjoying dessert a little too much. ;)

We had an ultrasound last week and everything looks great. The baby was in there dancing around, waving his arms, and kicking his legs. (yes, I am saying his, but we don't know if it is a boy or girl yet, it just sounds right to me to say him and his for now. Maybe I am balancing out Aubrey calling the baby a her.)

We have an announcement...

Baby two is on the way--due May 3, 2010!