23 Weeks

Friday marked the end of week 23! Going by quickly, huh? Everything has been going great for our little family, and I think Tyler is getting more excited for his little sister to arrive. I taught him to say "sis" and he likes to lift up my shirt and give her stuff.... sometimes a sip of his drink (through my belly button, of course), a snack, a stick, and more often than not, a ball (still his favorite word and toy haha).

I've been feeling pretty good, just getting a little random nausea every now and then but I can deal. My hips seem to be less sore now that I've been regularly doing yoga (Jordon got me a pregnancy yoga DVD... Love that sweet man). I've been walk/running (okay, definitely more walking with a few 1-2 minutes bouts of light jogging) about 6 days a week and that's helping me keep my energy up. Jordon taught at a basketball camp at Ferrum this past week and Tyler and I had a nice routine of a longggg morning walk pointing out all the cars and their colors, which was great. Jordon's teaching at Wintergreen this week, so Tyler and I plan on keeping up the same routine. We actually walked FOREVER this morning, but we did stop at the playground, so that may be why we didn't get home until 2 hours after we started.

I've been so hungry recently, so I guess baby is growing away. Unfortunately, I'm craving cookies, ice cream, and all that sweet stuff. Baby girl's got a sweet tooth! I'm trying not to indulge toooo much, but chunky chips ahoy cookies have their way of calling my name at all hours of the day haha. I'm also getting bigger and bigger so it is getting very difficult to sleep. Lots of tossing and turning in my bed at night. Thankfully I have the faithful old Boppy pillow! I did, however, leave it at home this week, so I'm dying here at Wintergreen and trying to situate three pillows into a makeshift Boppy.

On the toddler front, Tyler is saying more and more! Jordon taught him to say "honk, honk" and squeeze your nose, so he's been doing that all the time. He also learned the word "swim" and it is PRECIOUS to hear him say it. Additionally, he's learned to demand "gum," which means fruit snacks, or gummies in toddler-speak, as I DO NOT give my child gum (and will not for several years... just think of the mess). Anyway, his vocabulary is just growing and growing! He's loving swimming since the weather got hot, and is always able to get completely soaked outside if there is any source of water around (baby pool, watering can, puddle, water bottle). Today we were splashing in puddles with our feet and he decided to sit down in one to play... got his whole butt soaking wet haha. But he was having so much fun and I love to see him happy, so what's a little water?

I think we have unofficially set the big move for the first weekend in July. I'm excited to move into a new house but I've been getting very nostalgic as we pack up. Tyler has spent his entire life from about 2 weeks old in that house! But we are moving onto bigger and better things and I'm excited to see what the future has to hold for us.

22 Weeks

I'm more than halfway through and it still hasn't really sunk in that we are going to have TWO children before Christmas rolls around. Crazy, huh? Baby girl is kicking and squirming away like crazy though, so she's making it harder and harder for momma to forget haha. I've been feeling pretty good other than my body aching. It's just so difficult to get in a comfortable position, but I guess that's to be expected. I haven't really been having any real crazy cravings, but I have had the taste for ramen noodles all the time recently. Which is kind of a tragedy because they have about zero nutritional content, but I guess this girl just loves salt haha.

My belly is definitely growing and it's getting much harder to squeeze into my non-maternity pants. By looking back at my belly pictures from my pregnancy with Tyler, it looks like I'm carrying this little one lower, so maybe that's why my pants are more uncomfortable. Regardless, I'm very happy my mom treated me to some maternity shopping and I have two new pairs of elastic band shorts (blue and yellow). Maternity pants are awesome.

Jordon and I have been wracking our brains trying to decide what to name this little one, but we haven't quite figured it out. We are leaning towards one name, and I'm sure it will probably be what we pick, but we're too indecisive as a couple to make anything official. So no buying anything personalized yet! Plus I'm still the tiniest bit nervous that "she" is actually a "he" who was hiding his goods at our ultrasound and has butt cheeks that disguise themselves as the elusive "three bright lines" that point to a little girl (yeah, I'm super paranoid, I know). I'm hoping we'll have another ultrasound sometime this pregnancy so I can harass the ultrasound tech and ask them to check umpteen times for little girl parts to confirm. As much as I HATED our scare with Tyler (and as much as I hated how it scarred me for all future pregnancies), I did enjoy having so many ultrasounds! I had six, I think, when we were pregnant with him and this time I'm only anticipating the two we've had (one being super early so it barely counts haha). But, we'll probably pay to get a 3d one though in the third trimester just to see our little one again!

On the toddler front, Tyler has been an awesome little boy. He seems to be growing out of the terribly obnoxious toddler phase and into the rambunctious, full of energy (but seemingly well-behaved) toddler phase. This I can deal with. Jordon and I spend our days trying to fill his day with fun and adventure and he usually is worn out enough to eat well and go down for naps and bed easily (*usually* being the key word there... we still have the occasional dining room meltdown or restless evening). He still lovesssss to mow. In fact, he rode along with Jordon today! It was funny because he was down for a nap when Jordon started mowing the front yard (planning to save the backyard until Tyler woke so he could ride along), and Tyler woke up just before Jordon finished the front. I went upstairs for something and all I hear from the bedroom is "mow..... mow...... mowmow." No crying or anything, just standing up in bed chanting "mow" because I guess he knew Daddy was mowing! He is also saying a lot more now which is so cute and hilarious. His new phrase he says ALL the time is "Idunknow!" .... translated from toddler-speak, "I don't know!" You can ask him anything, even something he knows the answer to, and he usually responds with "Idunknow!" He also asks "atsdis?" about everything ("What's this?"). It's hilarious to take him to the store or on a walk because I hear that every five seconds. He's also saying things we've yet to translate. For example last night I was trying to get him to sleep and he was restless (he had taken the dreaded late-day nap) and he kept saying something that sounded like "I'm wet" over and over again. I have no clue why he'd be saying that, so I'm assuming I have yet to figure out what he was trying to tell me.

We're also thinking a lot about the potty training front. I'd LOVE to NOT have two children in diapers, so my goal is to potty train by October. Of course, I know a lot has to do with how ready HE is for the potty, but he seems interested and knows when he has a dirty diaper (one day he came up to me, fanned behind his butt and went "ssssss" which means "stinky" in Tyler-speak). Also this evening he was running around naked before his bath and started to pee on our bedroom floor (tragedy!) so we told him to hurry to the potty and he knew right where to go... of course once he sat on it and tried to pee nothing was left, but hey, good effort! So I think if we really invest some time and energy into it in the next few months, he SHOULD do okay with it.

That's it for now. We have a couple busy weeks ahead... Jordon is helping teach a basketball camp at Ferrum next week then we'll be heading to Wintergreen for a week then to Woodstock for a tennis tournament. I have a feeling I'm going to be one tired momma come July!

20/21 Weeks

We've been out of town so I'm combining the last two weeks, but I have plenty to update on! On the pregnancy front, I'm now 21 weeks along and it's sure gone by quickly. I've been feeling pretty good recently. Since my Synthroid dose was adjusted my energy has definitely been up, although I won't be running any marathons anytime soon haha. I've definitely been achey and having a hard time sleeping because my bump is getting in the way of my belly sleeping preference. I'm about to cut a hole in my mattress for my bump so I can continue to sleep on my belly. I also have to pee ALL the time now. I didn't really remember how annoying that could be from last time, but boy is it obnoxious!

We had our anatomy ultrasound and 20 week appointment on Tuesday. What we saw was a appropriately growing and apparently healthy little GIRL. I had sworn up and down during my first trimester that baby was a girl but as we got closer to finding out I started to doubt myself, so I was actually pretty surprised when the tech showed us those little girl parts. In fact, part of me still doesn't believe it... I asked the tech a few times if she was SURE and even though she said she didn't have any doubts I'm still not buying any girls clothes. I guess it will take a little while for it to sink in since I am so used to being the mom of a little boy. As for Jordon.... well, let's just say we went to Dick's after the ultrasound and he went straight for the hunting section to research shotguns haha! We have a name that we are leaning towards, but we're not ready to make it "official" yet, so we'll still take suggestions :-)

On the toddler front, well, we have a crazy child. We went and visited my family in MD which was great since we hadn't been since Christmas. My mom had gotten Tyler a little push mower and he was OBSESSED. I heard the word "mow" at least 100 times in the 3 days we were there and he played with it at least a good 2 hours a day. We went to Clark's Farm and Tyler loved seeing the animals there. It seems that the busier we keep him during the day, the better he behaves. Which is unfortunate on days like today when it rains ALL DAY LONG and my bored little toddler throws hissy fits left and right. Sigh. Parenting is hard work! But on a good note, Tyler has been eating great. I've been trying to feed him healthier foods (I admit, since I got pregnant I've been going for the easy, more processed foods) and he's been eating turkey, tomatoes, bananas, that fancy pasta that has 1/2 a serving of veggies in it (haha), yogurt and other fruits often. I've also been trying to steer myself away from the typical pregnancy craving foods (which are usually some sort of processed carb) and snack on healthier options (like carrots and dressing, fruits, and eating more eggs). Of course, that doesn't mean I don't indulge my french fries and milkshake craving every once in awhile.

As for our family, the news has gotten out to all the appropriate parties, so I suppose I can let the cat out of the bag so to speak... we are moving back to the valley this summer. I was offered a teaching position at JMU (which actually will include maternity time off for me) that offered a generous salary, so we decided we couldn't pass up the offer. As hard as it is for Jordon to leave his job and for us to leave the home Tyler has essentially grown up in, I think this will be the best situation for us. Plus I have been planning on using my midwives in Harrisonburg, which would be quite inconvenient if we were still living in Ferrum come "labor" day. And it will be great to be closer to both of our families when we will really be needing the help! So big news for us!

19 Weeks

So, I missed a week. Oops! We had a very hectic week last week and weekend though, so please forgive me. Jordon's grandad passed away last Monday and we had to travel for the funeral and viewing, so blogging wasn't on my mind.

But we did have an appointment last Thursday (18 weeks). Baby's heart was beating away (143 bpm) and seemed to be doing well so we were pleased. We have our anatomy ultrasound booked for June 4th.

Also on the pregnancy front, I felt my baby kick! Yay! I have been way too cautious to call anything I feel going on in the belly region baby movements, but I got some definite kicks last Friday night. So official kick mark to this pregnancy was 18 weeks, when last time it was 20. Since then I've felt a good amount of movement, and I love it. It gives a good reassurance that baby is still okay in there. Jordon caught a kick the other day for the first time so he was excited. At my appointment I had them test my thyroid because I had been feeling so terribly exhausted and low and behold my thyroid was off so they upped my Synthroid. I've been feeling better this week tired-wise, but I've been pretty achy. For the last two weeks almost my SI joint (where your lower back and hip meets) has been in terrible pain. The chiropractor hasn't seemed to be helping and I keep icing but I'm still in pain. Boo. So that's my gripe for the week.

On the toddler front, Tyler has been a wild child. He was terrrrrible this past weekend, fussing when he didn't get what he wanted, refusing to sit in his high chair and eat and constantly wanting up and then down when you held him. He's exhausting! He's driving me absolutely nutso, but it's hard to be mad with him because he's still the cutest thing ever. He's been talking so much and trying to repeat a lot of what you say. He's saying "I'm done!" when he's done eating (over and over and over again haha) and he'll say what I think is "What's this?" when he points to something new. This week he's been saying "mow" like crazy. He's obsessed with mowers... I mean absolutely obsessed. In fact, we went to Lowe's today and spent 25 minutes letting him sit on the mowers, and when we left he still had a conniption repeating "mowwwwww, mowww!). Plus when we go walking and he sees someone mowing he repeats "mow" at least 10 times, even after we've long passed the lawn being mowed.  He's still sleeping in our bed and it drives me nuts in the middle of the night because he likes to sleep horizontally and kick Jordon or I all night. But he's now doing this precious thing where he wakes us up in the morning by patting or rubbing our cheeks and giving us the sweetest smile, then nuzzling up under one of our arms to cuddle before moving on the the other parent. It is seriously the best way to wake up! Personal space during the night is a small price to pay for those precious moments that probably won't last much longer.

Lastly, Jordon and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Wednesday! It has flown by so quickly. Jordon's grandparents watched Tyler so we could go out to dinner and we had a great night spending time together. Love me some date nights!

17 Weeks

17 weeks yesterday and I am very excited because we have an appointment next week! I'm eager to make sure my little one is still doing okay in there.

On the pregnancy front, I am exhausted as usual. Tyler tires me out! This pregnancy I've been having more episodes of just total, downright exhaustion, which I only used to get after working out hard last pregnancy. This time, I watch Tyler and do laundry in the same day and my body is like "whoaaaaa let's slow it down now momma... you're not as fit as you once were." Blah, depressing! I miss all the muscles I had when I had time to work out an hour and a half every day in college. Kids change stuff, don't they? Other than being tired, there hasn't been too much exciting going on in baby-land. I still am feeling the same flutter-y feeling as I reported last week, very few and far between, so I'm still not convinced 100% that it's baby. They say you're supposed to feel the baby move earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but I blogged at 18 weeks about Tyler moving, so maybe the theory won't hold true for me. Or maybe I was more confident in what I was feeling last time, and it was the same thing I felt last week? Who knows.

I'm getting eager to find out whether baby robinson #2 is a boy or girl. After having to wait much longer than we did last pregnancy, part of me felt like, "eh what's 20 more weeks and maybe we should wait until he/she is born." That thought lasted about 10 seconds. I'm tired of calling baby "it" or "baby brothersister" to Tyler. He may grow up thinking brothersister is one word by the fact that we use it like that so frequently haha. So anyway, I'm officially getting a little anxious! I also think it will feel much more real when the creature inside me is no longer and "it" and becomes a "he" or "she." We still have a few more weeks though, so it's time to be patient.

On the toddler front, boy do we have an energetic boy. He is FULL of it. Maybe that's where all of my energy went? It makes me glad we didn't pregnant any sooner because I CANNOT imagine having a newborn at this moment. Tyler demands our full attention and must be watched 24/7 because I swear he is a kamikaze toddler. His new favorite activities are jumping 3 inches from the edge of the couch, climbing up our tall dining room chairs, jumping on the edge of his bed, dragging his riding toys into his bed and trying to ride them in bed, and going down the steps all by himself (NOT using the tried and true butt scoot method either!). Sigh. I WILL have a heart attack by the time he is four.

He has been SO hilarious recently though. He has finally decided that yes, speech is an effective form of communication, so he is trying to talk up a storm. Not only does he say new words in the cutest manner possible, but sometimes he gets ahead of himself and will just babble an entire sentence in his made-up toddler language as if he were having a conversation. Some of his new vocabulary words are ice, juice, and shoes. He also has been saying MY name like crazy! I love it but there are definitely moments where I think, "If I hear mom, mom, mom one more time, I'm going to go nuts!"

Ah, the joys of motherhood! I'm excited to think, soon enough we'll have another! Although I told Jordon, I'm having a hard time imagining the day when I'll finally get a full night of sleep. If we keep up with this baby-making thing, I may be 30 by the time I get a solid 8 uninterrupted hours. Sigh. It's all worth it though ;-)

16 Weeks

I "turned" 16 weeks pregnant yesterday, but more importantly, gained a niece (sort of)! Congrats to Jordon's cousin Jameson and his wife Katie on the birth of their baby girl, Sadie Elizabeth :-)

On our baby front, I've been tiredddddddd. Tyler wears me out and so does pregnancy haha. Other than that, it's been fairly easy to forget I'm pregnant. I'm anxious to feel baby move so I have a little more assurance that he/she is actually in there and okay, but I'm not sure I'm getting anything yet. Yesterday and today I did feel some flutters, but I'm not 100% sure it's baby, so I'll wait another week before I make any claims of quickening.

On the toddler front, we've entered the terrible 2s (I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, so if I did, forgive me). Tyler has been VERY bossy and really lets us know if he's discontent with something. Okay, not really bossy, but definitely demanding. We have these folding chairs that go with our card table, which I brought up to the living room when we had the tennis teams over. Well Tyler has decided these folding chairs are his special seats and he likes to point to each and tell Jordon and I where to sit. Then, 15 seconds later, he points to a NEW seat for each of us to sit in. Jordon and I also have the job of finding someone to sit in the fourth seat since Tyler, Jord and I only take up three. Mr. Rocking Horse, Mr. Woof, and Mr. Musical Dog. He is not content unless all four of those seats are filled. Goof ball. And as usual, he throws a fit if we don't take him outside or if we bring him in from outside. Unfortunately, the weather has been a bit sub-par recently, making less than ideal outside playing conditions and a very discontent toddler. Boo. But even with all that, Tyler is still giving out kisses, laughing at Jordon and I's attempts to be funny and is a great snuggle buddy. So all is not lost during those terrible 2s.

15 Weeks

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant. It all has kind of flown by and sometimes it still doesn't hit me that I'm pregnant. Tyler has been wearing me out everyday, but I guess that is what toddlers do best. He is awesome and so full of life and energy though, so I don't necessarily consider being worn out at the end of the day such a bad thing.

On the pregnancy front, I've been feeling decent. I still feel a little nauseous every night before bed (my "morning" sickness has always been worse at night, even with Tyler) which sucks, but I'm thankful I'm not throwing up like I was just a month or so ago. I'm feeling plenty of stretching and little cramps as my uterus is growing to accommodate our growing child and I have a fairly legitimate baby bump. Not big enough for people to brave the "Are you pregnant?" question, but enough for those who know I'm pregnant to comment on how I'm showing. I have one amazing pair of maternity jeans (thank you Mom!) that fit great right now, but the rest of my maternity jeans will have to wait another 4 weeks or so before they get worn because they are a tad big in the belly area. In the meantime, I've been wearing my non-maternity jeans fine with a hairband through the button hole (giving me an extra 1-2 inches in the waistline). I'm excited to get some new maternity wear though... I'd wear elastic pants and empire cut shirts all the time if I could :-) And no movement in this belly yet! I think I felt Tyler around 17 or 18 weeks last time and they say you can feel them a little earlier in subsequent pregnancies, but I haven't sensed anything yet. I'm very anxious for that to start so I'll have a better indication that everything is okay in there, since sometimes I forget I'm even pregnant right now.

On the toddler front, Tyler has been busy busy. He is OBSESSED with playing outside. We'll play for 3 hours outside and the moment we come inside he has a conniption and cries while pointing the the door saying "dis!!!!!! disssss!!!!!!" (translated: "You see this door here Mom, Dad?! I want you to open it up and take me back outside!). It's been great to have such nice weather to take him outside though.... I think he is a much happier baby toddler when he gets outside time. He's been helping me garden, splashing in the water I use to water my plants, and collecting all the rocks I dig out of the garden and putting them in his little race car. So easily entertained! He's also been very contently sleeping in between Jordon and I every night. It's going to be a tragedy in October, but for now, it's working for us. And honestly, I love waking up to his smiling baby face. Ahh so in love. He's the best.

That's it for now. We don't have another appointment until May 17th (18 weeks). Can't wait to hear baby's heart beating again!