A Baby Shower For Sydney...

My sweet LG gals gave me a baby shower on Monday evening. They brought Sydney some diapers, wipes, lotions, baby wash, etc.

My friend, Heather, made this cute onesie and tutu...I just love it!!



They also made this book and each person wrote something to Sydney in it - such sweet words and prayers for our baby girl. So special. I love this group of ladies so much. We share our lives with each other, pray for one another, encourage each other, laugh at/with each other. They're a blessing in my life. I'm very thankful for sweet/thoughtful friends.



I made buffalo chicken tacos again last night...they're just so good and easy to make. We'll probably have these every week. :)

I tried a new recipe for Apple Cherry Oat Bars. I've been wanting to make these for a couple of weeks now. They were yummy! A few changes I made/will make next time: I only used all purpose flour in the recipe because the two stores I went to didn't have almond flour, I added fresh lemon zest to the recipe, and I will leave out the allspice all together next time - it's just too strong for my liking. The bottom and topping were SO GOOD and I loved the tartness of the dried cherries in the filling. I'll make these again and will probably change up the filling every so often too...you could use any fruit that you like best.



Happy Wednesday!

Love to all,

19 weeks...

Our sweet baby currently measures 6 inches (about the size of a large heirloom tomato) and weighs about 8 1/2 ounces. :)

Love to all,

Pink or Blue...

We headed to the doctor this afternoon for a big appointment. Today we found out if we're having a boy or a girl! Even more importantly, we were able to see if everything was okay with our sweet baby and from all they can see on ultrasound, our little one is 100% healthy!!



When we've asked Amelia if she's having a brother or a sister, she always says "boy." We've never prompted her - this is just always her answer. I've felt from the beginning that it was a boy and was eager to see if I was correct.

Well.......we're proud to announce that in March 2012, we'll be welcoming a baby GIRL!!!! Amelia is going to have a sister! We're so excited and are thankful that all is well with our sweet girl. She refused to look our way and stayed face down the entire time. She's going to have to get used to having her picture taken but there's plenty of time for that, I suppose.

We're almost 100% certain on her name. We'll share it soon! When we ask Amelia what we should name her baby sister, she says, "boy." HAHA! I think we can come up with something better than that. :)

Love to all,

18 weeks...

I'm 18 weeks today! This pregnancy seems to be flying by. I've been thinking about names...mainly girl names...just in case my feeling of BLUE is incorrect. Alex and I both come from families with six children. There are 3 boys and 3 girls in each of our families, so the thought of Amelia having a brother or a sister makes me extremely happy!

I've starting feeling things but still unsure if it's the baby. You would think I would know since I've been pregnant before but I really have no clue. Maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to tell if it's the baby or just my food digesting.



Our sweet baby currently measures 5 1/2 inches (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. :)

Love to all,

16 weeks...

I'm 16 weeks today! I'm feeling pretty good. I still have nausea off and on but more than anything, I'm just really tired. I'm back to cooking dinner every night, so that's a huge improvement from how I felt during my first trimester. I feel like I'm showing more every day. I'm wearing all maternity clothes because they fit and are comfortable. I'm not one to try and squeeze myself into regular clothes while pregnant. I need to be able to breathe.

We started discussing baby names. We've had our boy name for years but really weren't sure if it's a girl. To my surprise, we actually came up with a girl name over the weekend that we both agree on! We'll keep discussing but it's nice to have one that we both really like. We won't be sharing the name choice until we find out if we're having a boy or girl. So sometime next month! :)



Our sweet baby currently measures 4 1/2 inches (about the size of an avocado) and weighs 3 1/2 ounces. :)

Love to all,

14 weeks...

This is the first pregnancy post I've done since announcing my pregnancy. The second time around truly is different. For me anyway. I took weekly pictures starting very early on in my first pregnancy but haven't felt like it this time around. I think being sick along with chasing my almost 2 year old around every day has something to do with it. I'm just tired by the time Alex gets home and haven't thought about having him take a picture. But since I'm officially in my 2nd trimester now, I decided it was time to start posting! I took a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror so it's not the greatest pic but it shows the belly. That's all anyone cares about anyway. How big is the belly getting!??

I thought I would do something different this time around and share different things each week, other than the size of the baby. I found this idea on Pinterest (one of my favorite sites) way before I was pregnant and thought it was a neat idea. This week I'm sharing what I've been craving over the past 14 weeks!



Our sweet baby currently measures 3 1/2 inches (about the size of a lemon) and weighs 1 1/2 ounces. :)

Love to all,

Baby on the way...

I had my first doctor's appointment today! My OB walked into the room with a huge smile on his face and immediately gave me a new name. He said I'm now "Fertile Myrtle." HA! He checked me and said my uterus was larger than with my last pregnancy. His next question was "do twins run in your family?" Little did he know...twins DO RUN IN MY FAMILY. Alex started laughing...he was getting a huge kick out the fact that I was about to have a heart attack. I pretty much held my breath until they took us to ultrasound. And what did we see!??

One little peanut. :)



We were able to see that sweet flutter on the screen. The baby's heart rate was 144 bpm and as soon as I heard it - I cried. The u/s tech asked if this was our first baby. I had the same reaction when I heard Amelia's heartbeat for the first time. Every life is such a miracle. It's just amazing. I measured 7 weeks/2 days.

We met with my doctor after the ultrasound. We discussed possible c-section dates. He gave me a date for the end of March. Of course the closer we get, the date could change. I'm praying for a healthy, uneventful pregnancy this time around. Before leaving he prayed with us. He prayed for us as parents, the baby, and for Amelia. I love my doctor.

Everyone asks if I have a feeling on if it's a boy or girl. As of right now, I really feel like it's a boy. Of course there is no way to know until I'm farther along but as of right now - I'm team blue! :)

Feeling very blessed.

Love to all,

3+1=4

Amelia loves her magnadoodle. She has 3 of them. She brings them to us every day and asks us to write her a "note." As soon as Alex walked through the door yesterday, she said "Daddy, note!" He came over, sat on the couch, flipped the magandoodle over, and was truly SHOCKED at what he saw...



I'm not going to lie - I'm in shock as well.



We decided to stop using birth control at the beginning of July. We've been praying about it and figured it would take awhile to get pregnant on our own.

Um...it didn't.



And because two lines just weren't enough. I needed a digital message that spelled it out for me. It's the infertile in me. I tried eating a chicken sandwich yesterday and couldn't eat it - I had to throw it out. I was the exact same way when pregnant with Amelia. As soon as I threw it out a little voice in my head said "are you pregnant?" According to this little stick...YES...yes,I am.



We rushed to the store to find a big sister shirt before Alex got home from work. I was thinking that's the way I would tell him but then thought to myself...he's not going to even look at what she's wearing...you better write a note on the magnadoodle. Is she not the cutest big sister ever?



So it's official...our family of 3 will have an addition, March 2012. We'll be a family of 4. Unbelievable.

I know lots of people who wouldn't announce a pregnancy this early on, but this baby/pregnancy is in God's care and I want to trust Him with it. We're excited and thanking Him for this miracle baby!

Love to all,

Fat is the new black...

Okay, so I have to start off by saying, thank you. I was feeling down yesterday and...well...a little fat. And all of my blog peeps sent me messages that honestly made me cry happy tears and also laugh hysterically. My friend, Holly, called me last night after reading my blog. She goes to my doctor's office. She always makes me laugh. At one point in the conversation she said, "fat is back!" (LOL) I followed with, "yeah, fat is the new black!" My new motto. (and for the record, we weren't talking about size, we were talking about nutrition...good and bad fat:) I feel better today and after reading your comments, I have decided to let them weigh me each month, but I'm not going to let them tell me how much I've gained. I think that will be best for me. I want to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy, including my growing belly! I seem to embrace it until the dreaded doctor's appointment and then I panic. So thanks for the pick-me-up, girls!!

Speaking of pick-me-ups. I received a package in the mail from my friend, Shannon. She sent little miss A these cute bloomers and onesie! Aren't they sweet!? One set of bloomers has her initials, the other has her name, and the onesie has her first initial. :) I love anything personalized. Shannon, thank you so much for thinking of our baby girl!


Since my first baby shower is this Saturday, I wanted freshly painted toenails. I seriously can't believe it's already here!! I'm getting so excited!

Anywho, back to my toes. I've gone to the same nail salon for about 7-8 years. Chuc and Tina own the salon. Tina has always been the one to do my nails...love her! Well today, after she finishes my pedicure, she goes to the back and comes out with this bag.


It was full of onesies, hats, gowns, and a blanket.


Tina doesn't speak/understand English as well as some, but every time I went in to have my nails done (over the past 3 years) she would ask how my doctors appointments were going. She knew that we were trying to have a baby. I don't know that she fully understood what we were going through with the IVF, but she knew it wasn't as easy for us as for some. In my many years of going there, I've had the pleasure of celebrating Tina's three pregnancies with her. :) It just touched my heart that she would bring us these gifts. She's such a sweetheart.

So many of you have sent us gifts for A and each one means so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I honestly can't wait to put each and every item that we've received on her. I hope she likes to change outfits several times a day, because she's going to be my little baby doll. :)

Oh, and I've had some people leave a message in the comments section, asking about A's name. Sometimes I wish that I were able to just type out her name on the blog. I love her name...I think it's so pretty. I already make up songs with her name in them and sing them to her. (LOL) BUT...I must respect my husband's wishes and I love him for just wanting to keep our baby girl safe. I would be more than happy to share it with you, just click on the email button on my sidebar and send me a message or leave me your email address in the comments section and I'll email you! :)

Love you guys,