B#2 Update

So after all that vacation talk, I realized I haven't updated the blog about the baby in some time. I think about him/her constantly (being all pregnant and everything) but life is so busy it's hard to put into words at times. Here's what I got (see vacation pictures for most recent belly pic) -

I feel awesome. I can't say enough for how easy this pregnancy has been in terms of how I feel. I felt blah earlier but really, that was it. Never once did I feel like I was going to get sick. Lucky me!

I'm not really that tired anymore and am completely ok with being back on a regular schedule (meaning I don't fall asleep on the couch by 9, which was still much later than when I'd be out cold on the couch with Morgan in the 1st trimester).

We're officially well into the 2nd trimester now as I'm 15w2d today. I sort of can't believe how fast this is going. I had a small anxiety attack yesterday realizing that we can easily find out boy/girl in the next three weeks or so (pending my u/s being scheduled) and we've done nothing to get ready for it. Actually, I've not even pulled up my maternity clothes yet as I've been doing alright with what I have and a few pairs of shorts I grabbed from those bins. The belly is growing but it seems to have slowed a little?

If my belly growth doesn't seem to be going too crazy, my appetite surely is. I could still eat a ton but I don't know if that's pregnancy-related or normal Melissa. :)

Morgan now knows "where the baby is" when she is asked. She'll point to my belly and then lift my shirt and poke my belly button to try to find it.

I still don't feel the baby kicking, although I thought I did about two weeks ago. Since s/he's about 4.5" long, I'm hoping to really start feeling the baby soon. I love that part. xo

Arizona - June 2011

Pictures from vacation:
Arizona, June 2011

Ok, continuing on then...we all slept well that first night until...say...4:30am (6:30am IA time - last time correction I will make since it's now completely obvious that we were 2 hours behind most of you). As hard as we tried to lay down, relax, watch NO cartoons on TV (ps. they all suck at 4:30 in the morning), Morgan was UP. And actually, so was I. Adam, of course, can sleep anywhere, any time, so he could have kept going. Then we find out that breakfast isn't until 7am so after a few more hours of occupying Miss Toddler Pants, we went down and had breakfast. Since we promised, we went for a dip in the pool which, despite the fact that it was already in the low 80s for air temp, was quite cold when we got out! (I blame the wind.) Morgan took a nap while I showered and after a late check out, we were on our way to the rest of our vacation.

Side note - huge perks of having a husband who travels often even though we'd rather have him home:

• our round-trip plane tickets were $10 each. Thank you FF miles. 
• That kid can navigate his way through an airport and all that goes with it with his eyes closed and fast. We just followed and did what he said and didn't look like it had been 4.5 years since I'd been on a plane.
• We got free bags on all 4 flights instead of paying the $120 it should have cost us since we brought along Mr. Special Pants.
• We sat in business class, thus had more room which was great with a toddler on laps. 
• Adam anticipated the glitch getting on our first flight home which caused us to fix it quickly and make it to the gate, breakfast sandwiches in hand, on time.
• He can also rent a car with his eyes closed whereas that process may have taken me 10x longer if it were me alone. 

Back to the fun. We dropped off our things in our GIANT resort condo (I could have stolen the kitchen with its granite counter tops and bajillion cabinets/cupboards) and practically RAN to the pool. This wasn't any ordinary pool, folks. It was AMAZING and oddly enough, it was a salt-water pool instead of chlorine! It had a shallow area that Morgan could just walk into and play which meant that we could sit or almost lie in the same area, stay cool in the 108-113 degree heat, and have a great time watching Morgan play, learn how to be a fish, watch for the moon and ay-panes (airplanes - hello new obsession), and share an occasional ice cream treat from the snack bar. After dinner out, which Morgan was less than thrilled for (thank you lack of sleep/nap time), we went back to relax and settle in. Morgan's room (she had her OWN room - sort of her own "wing" - since we got an adjoining condo to add the extra room - best idea ever) had an option for a pack 'n play, however, there was no sheet for it and I wasn't about to lie her on a bare pad that who knows who else slept there, we set her up with pillows surrounding her on the "Big Girl Bed" (king sized bed) and prayed a little for her to stay there the whole night...which she did. She did VERY well on this the rest of the vacation, however, she did fall out one night just before we went to bed. I had randomly thought to put these decorative pillows to block her from the nightstands which was a Godsend idea since she surely would have broken her face on one if it hadn't been there. She had a tiny bruise or two on her cheek and a few tiny dots of scab the next day or two, but she calmed and went back to bed without incident. My wheels got turning though...perhaps a switch to a big girl bed should happen sooner rather than later since she's all used to it and it will save us when it's really crunch time later? (ps. we are not buying a second crib for B#2). We shall see. Right now, I have the hayfield to mow tomorrow, organize things a bit, and get ready for the rest of the week.

Anyway, (I wrote the above last night, moving on today - Mon - while the monkey sleeps and tries to get back in the CST). I'll just highlight some of the other things we did as a majority of the time we were either playing in the pool, Morgan (and lots of times us as well) was napping, or we were out having fun.

• Morgan had her first pony ride one very hot Tuesday morning. She did very well - no tears (shocked me) - and as long as Adam was walking next to her and kind of holding on, it was great. Big girl!
• We went to the mall a day or two but didn't buy a ton b/c tax was 10% there!! Way to make moola on the tourist industry! Whew!
• We went to Lake Pleasant thinking it would be this fun lake where you could swim...nope. It was this beautiful lake you could go to and BOAT. Needless to say we drove around, scoped out the scenery which was quite pretty, prayed Adam didn't lose us over a cliff, and then went back to enjoy our oh so awesome pool.
• There was an awesome mall not to far (maybe 20 min?) from our condo and we went there twice. They had tons of stores we never get to go to INCLUDING a Cinnabon which of COURSE the baby was NOT in the mood for either times we were there. :-( I was totally overdoing it all week though in the eating department so I let it slide this time...and am again something like 200 miles from the nearest one. Sigh. I blame the baby.
• Another day we went to the Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium which was a really great place to be - save for the monster heat. It opened at 9, I think, and by noon we had exhausted all the outdoor exhibits after mistakenly went to most of the indoor exhibits first. It was totally worth it though as it was not only a really neat place, but it was SO fun for us to watch Morgan recognize familiar animals, become interested in new ones, and put things together to make sense of things she didn't know. At one exhibit of some white giant deer/antelope looking things (oryx?) she called them moose. She's seen a moose once in her life for a few minutes at a different zoo weeks ago. We then went to one of the zoo restaurants called the Tiburon, which was pricey but worth it as we got to sit front and center to a giant aquarium while sharks and other neat fish swam by. It was great and even better...free tickets! (ps. I have no idea how we're going to do vacations when the kids no longer get in "free" for being teeny.) 
• Let's see, what else did we do...Adam went golfing at the 500 Club one morning and really enjoyed himself. I meant to make a visit to the spa for a massage but didn't get a chance to. Well, actually, I had plenty of chances but may have been enjoying my family too much. :) I plan to take advantage of one here at home very soon instead. 
• We each read two books (ok, I'm just finishing up my second but still!) which made me feel liberated to fall in love with a story again and lose myself in it. The first I read was "Handle with Care" by Jodi Picoult (a fav author of mine) and holy buckets. Tough story to read emotionally. I'm currently in the midst of 19 Minutes, same author, and again, great/tough story. I LOVE her books - they make me think about things not work or home or general life related and I like that get away sometimes. 

I think that's about it for major things we did. We went out for dinner a time or two, lunch a time or two, but mostly we hung out at the pool and did the rest of the things mentioned. We all soaked up time with each other for days on end which is not something we're used to. I heart vacation and while it was amazing to get back to our house (ah! how I love my own bed/pillow) and puppies, we all had a really great time and I can't wait to do something similar again next summer (woah - with TWO kids).

I can't end this post though without a few Morgan-isms (which sounds an awful lot like organisms but not even close to the same thing) from vacation and life in general.

-"Simmin'!" - One of Morgan's favorite things to proclaim she wanted to do.
- "Umm...Tooties!" - when asked what she wants to eat for a meal or snack, she will now always respond cookies.
- "Moh ay-panes!" - when leaving an airport, Morgan will realize she won't be seeing airplanes for a while and will ask for more.
- "Dowa!" - if I heard her ask for this once over vacation, I heard it 10 billion times. There WAS no Dora on vacation as nobody has Nick Jr outside of our house, I swear. Bah.
- "Moon!! Ah you?" - Morgan looked for the moon every morning (and throughout the day - it was kind of like morning sickness - it happens all day) and asked where it was. It was visible every morning and was very tiny the last day.
- "Hot." - since it was crazy hot there, Morgan started to understand that even if it was in the shade, her carseat was going to be HOT (was later remedied with a white towel over it). One day before the car's a/c kicked in, Morgan looked down at herself and said, "Hot" and then started blowing on herself. Silly kid. She often went through her list of weather words and said, "windy. hot. bight (bright)."
- "Nay-tie!" - Morgan LOVED being naked all the time (we call it nakie) after swimming, baths, and whatever else required clothing removal.

Those are just a few of the hundred others we can't think of off the top of our heads at the moment. We can't get over her all the time (well, save for when she's having her toddler moments, but even then they're relatively manageable) and we're so proud of her. And we had a great vacation!!!

Coming to a close...

Wow, did we all need that. We are in the middle of day 8 of 9 during our trip to Phoenix, AZ and while I can't say this has been the most exciting vacation in terms of going out, doing/seeing new things, etc, I can safely say this might have been one of the most necessary and perfect vacations we've had so far. I can't even begin to tell you how much Adam and I both agree that we feel so much more centered and back on track with our family - work, routine, life, etc. had been hindering some of those things and to have it all go to the wayside (I haven't checked my work email since June 16th...oh my...I'm in for it I'm sure - hello 15 referrals) but my heart and head are all in the right place now after spending this time together as a family.

First off, we were well-prepared but still a bit nervous to take Morgan on the plane. We were up by 3:30am the day we left (June 18) and grabbed her at 4am just before leaving...and she didn't sleep until we were in Denver several hours later. On the plane, you'd never know that she was even the least bit apprehensive - she did beautifully. She played with her new window clings (holy best thing for a toddler on the plane ever - seriously), watched some Dora and other shows, and had unlimited access to her thumb (we would later find this might not have been the best, but meh, she was good on the tiny plane). We got to Denver and had HOURS to kill, so we walked and walked until she fell asleep in her stroller for about an hour (what. it was supposed to be longer!). We had some snacks, walked some more, and watched Morgan's endless fascination and glee with every airplane she saw outside the million windows. If we heard "ay-pane!" once, we heard it 6 billion times. :) We were happy she liked it and was eager to ride again since we still had our ride to Phoenix to go. Our plane was then delayed twice and left about 2 hours later than we were supposed to. Since we couldn't check into our hotel until a few hours after we landed, it kind of worked out well even though it was a little annoying to be packed up, ready to go, moved to another gate (again), and then find out we were delayed another hour. On the next flight, we had turbulence going up and down which is not my favorite at ALL but Morgan handled it in stride saying, "bumy" (bumpy) whenever it was a good-sized "bump." We landed, gasped at the extreme dry heat, and were more than happy to be at the cusp of our vacation. 9 days. That's what we needed.

We finally made our way to the hotel in our little white Kia SUV something or other and ordered pizza right away. We were totally thrown off with the two hour time difference and exhausted from the lack of sleep and up at 3:30am that morning (which was really 1:30am AZ time). We ate our pizza, promised Morgan after some toe dips in the pool that we'd go swimming in the morning (ps. she had the one hour nap in Denver and then slept the last 10 minutes of the second flight...not enough sleep for this kid) and she was out cold by 5:45pm AZ time. We laid on the bed and waited for her to fall asleep, as we were all in the same hotel room, and next thing I knew I was looking at a clock that said 11:45pm. Guess we were done for the night too!

More soon...kid just woke up and we have a bigger lunch planned since we're finishing up as much food as we can so as not to waste. We did a good job here...ok! More soon!! This has really been the best...

Holy disappointing blog.

I realize I've been a super-slacker in the area of "blogness" as of late and hope to catch up while on vacation in Arizona starting Saturday since we won't be having any crazy late nights since Adam didn't let me hire a nanny to bring on vacation (jerk, whatever). That said, I should have some time. ;-)

I do have a few things I want to note, however, so I don't forget, which of course means all the good ones are escaping my immediate memory while I ponder another Beernstein's chocolate from back home...

• Morgan now says, "See ya soon, ___" to anyone or thing as we're leaving. Today at lunch (Wed) we were leaving the restaurant we met Adam at and she said "see ya soon, chair!" about 15x on our way out. 
• She's still sleeping with a diaper for naps and bedtime. Naps are hit/miss for waking up dry and she hasn't woken up dry in the morning for a while again. Not a big deal to us at all.
• I don't WANT to work a half day tomorrow. But I will b/c I have to get some evals done.

That's all for now. I'm pulling the slacker blogger card before I go get some motivation to clean a bit before continuing to work on my Arizona lists. :)

Can it be??

I dropped off Morgan at Mary's just a bit ago, went to pick up Jessie's medication (she's having peeing issues again so we're doing a round of antibiotics to rule out UTI), came home, completed my hat attire I need wear to be "admitted" to the brunch I'm heading to, and then I'm out the door. I have the brunch at 10:30 which I'm excited about, but then...THEN I get to go shopping at the mall really to my heart's content with NO distractions or time limits (although I'll likely be done in a few hours). I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this shopping experience as I've not had one like this for some time. I've always felt the need to rush back home to spend time with my family or bring them with me (will I ever learn?!) to be able to see them. Not today! I have some vacation shopping to do, a giant sale at Bath & Body Works (I love this sale), and just some general bumming that I feel very entitled to. Yippee!! Off I go...

One for all of us

I feel the need to update on each individual family member so here goes.

Adam

• Hasn't had much of a chance to golf or play ball lately b/c of traveling and weather. I don't always mind b/c it means life is easier for me (think four hands for one kid instead of two), but I would like to take Morgan to one of his weekday games soon as they have a nice park there and I could contain her in a swing and watch him play at the same time.
• He's been a working machine outside since being home and recently spread 3 yards of bark on about half of our flower beds in this extreme heat. Go Team Adam.
• I don't know why but I'm blanking on what else he's up to lately. Likely b/c it's work, home to do things around the house (work, spending time with Morgan and I, etc), and then we've just had very busy weekends. 
• I know he's excited for our trip in a week and a half. 8 straight days of family time. :) 

Liss

• Today marks my first day of summer break and I only first realized this yesterday when I had finished my work for the school year and was able to put my day and a half left on my contract elsewhere in June (those count as summer speech days - not school year days. It makes sense in MY head). I went for a walk with Morgan this morning and realized how much I love working out in the morning vs after a long day of work and coming home to mommy-hood. No, I don't mean 6am working out - I mean 9am. :)
• I'm feeling pretty stinkin' great. Still a bit tired at the end of a long day, but feeling great otherwise. Getting bigger, however, is my next item on the agenda and it's definitely happening. I'm still in most of my regular clothes although "regular" can now be defined as my "fat clothes" being the ones that fit. I've had to use a rubberband here and there for my jeans, but alas, I think I've made it further with this one than I did with Morgan which is all sorts of backwards. 
• Did I mention I'm super excited for summer break? I am. Tomorrow morning after my oil change, Morgan and I are going to the library to finally pick up books for her about the moon, bunnies, and cows since those are her three obsessions at the moment. 
• I'm seriously considering trying to figure out how to work it in the budget so that after Christmas I can have a house cleaner. So necessary and would help my "must be clean, no clutter" Liss-i-tude calm down a bit.
• I'm often hungry with this pregnancy. Great. Looks like that 40lbs might not be as avoidable as I first thought. ;-) However, at my doctor appt just a bit ago, I'd only gained one pound in the past month. Awesome sauce (thanks, Abbie). :)
• I'm dying to go on our vacation. A week from Saturday!! AZ here we come!

 Morgan

• Where to start...she's hilarious. The other night we were eating dinner and she was poking along, and for some reason I noticed she put a pea in her mouth rather swiftly. I said, "Did you just eat that pea?" in a very accusing tone and she looked at me, smiled, and said, "Nooo..." Do I laugh b/c she's being silly or worry b/c she totally lied to me? You bet we chose laugh. It's a pea for goodness sake. And yes, playing this "game" resulted in her eating her entire mass quantity of peas.
• Morgan has broken out many new 2-3 word phrases but in the last two days or so, I've even heard a few 4-word phrases. "See ya soon, car!" was her one this morning on our walk. Fun to hear her develop this so quickly.
• She still takes a morning and afternoon nap. She's currently working on a rather long morning nap which will likely result in a short p.m. one when she's at Mary's...(I wrote this part this morning. Now she's trying to take her afternoon nap and it's not going so well).
• Morgan no longer likes to sleep for nighttime (think after 8pm) in the car (but neither do I, so who am I to judge?). On two separate car rides she didn't finally fall asleep until 9:45pm, which was 15 minutes before getting back to IA or to WI. I'm now indifferent to it b/c she's fine the next day and we don't do it often. It totally gave me anxiety though in the moment(s). 
• She now tells everyone to "hold on ____" (insert name here, including her babies) when she needs to do something before giving them attention. This is particularly funny when her baby is "crying" and she needs to get a bottle first. "Hold on, baby!" get bottle, put in baby's mouth, everyone's happy.  
• She LOVES being outside. She HATES coming in to pee. First/then language is helping but not always...I let her play with the hose last night after giving the dogs a bath - will have to post pictures later. Funny, especially after I showed her how to drink (or bite the water, if you're Morgan) the water straight out of the hose.
• No new teeth as of late. I think that's all for this one right now.

Baby

• We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time today. It was 150 bpm and and everything appeared normal and fine. We talked more with our midwife about her recent vacation and our upcoming vacation then we did about the baby. :) Going back July 16th for a routine visit and then...hopefully by the first week of August we'll know who's in there!! (at least gender - see 4th baby bullet).
• The baby is about as long as a lime (2") this week and weighs about a 1/2 ounce. I'm hoping to feel him/her start to move soon, but I'm pretty sure I have a few weeks until that really happens. 
• We're DYING to find out who's in there asap since we are struggling on names big time and at least if we know gender we can narrow down 1/2 the playing field. 
• We will take name suggestions but please know the following:
• We are not sharing names until s/he gets here. Deal. 
• We will take your suggestions but don't be offended if we don't use your name(s). :)
• Since we have TONS of preggo friends right now - if we fall in love with a name before learning your baby's name and they're the same, we will likely still name our baby that name. Hopefully no one will find this offensive, but that's what our plan is right now. I would expect the same from someone else who's having a baby after we are as how is anyone to know our name if we're not sharing?
• We could use double stroller suggestions, if anyone has any...affordable and durable would be much appreciated!

I think that's good for now. Morgan is going on 1.5 hours for her morning nap (again, written this morning...). I'm starving (shocker). Maybe I should go get something done with this extra time instead of blogging and checking FB, huh? :) Afternoon addendum - off to make a rhubarb/strawberry crisp. YUM (although I'll likely be the only one to eat it since Adam doesn't like that sort of thing...)
 

And...I'm done.

Today is my last official day of my "school year." By this, I mean that I'm done with days of work during the school year and have now officially moved myself into providing summer speech services. I have a day and a half left in June (16th - 1/2 day, 29th - full day) which thoroughly thrills me. Sigh. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to see this year come to a close. Oh - and I can now share that my assignment is taking a complete 180 - instead of serving birth - 21 y/o, I will now primarily be serving elementary school kiddies. This includes preK at two of my three schools, a few 0-3 kids here and there (thank goodness, I'd really miss this age but am actually now happy to have cut down on numbers in this age group) and right now, no high schoolers (yippee skippy - I feel least comfortable doing well with this age group on my end). So after July, I am fully welcoming my new assignment and will be ready for it. After I get WAY deep into this summer, that is. :)

I must say that I heart The Voice. It's SO much better than American Idol b/c they skip all the crap singers and everyone is just awesome. I really enjoy it and won't be missing an episode on purpose any time soon.

I have also learned (shocker) that I am terribly out of shape and once it stops being 100 degrees outside, Morgan and I will be going for regular walks to help whip this preggo body into at least some sort of manageable shape. I vacuumed like a crazy person after making dinner, then went outside to wash two rather unwilling dogs, chase around a toddler, and finally came in to beg Adam for reprieve and give Morgan a bath b/c if I would have had to bend over another nakie unwilling bather, I might break in half (stupid weak back). Then I had to read "Feece" (I love you, Stinky Face), "Moon," (Goodnight Moon), and then (mean mommy) I did not read "Munny" (The Runaway Bunny) b/c it was getting late and she may have then got me hook, line, and sinker to read the entire stack of books next to the glider. Tomorrow night, honey, tomorrow night.

Now I'm rambling b/c I'm trying to multitask late at night. Maybe more tomorrow. My 12 week appointment is tomorrow afternoon and we get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. :) I'm fully confident that things are moving along well as my body continues to change per the usual pregnancy protocol. I have a love/hate relationship with this but it's mostly love b/c I know it's inevitable but more importantly, I know it will go away (at some point - remember the 13 months it took me last time?! Killer since it seems so much "easier" for others...even though my brain knows that's definitely not the case).

Notice the endless rambling? Signing off now, I swear...

And then we knew...there would be TWO!

Two kids in our family, that is. :) I'm pretty sure almost everyone knows by now, but we are expecting our 4th family member sometime around December 19th. We found out when I was about 4-5 weeks along, waited a grueling 4 weeks for the first doctor appt/ultrasound, only to find that the baby was measuring not at the 8 weeks we thought I was at but at 7 weeks instead. So, we got to relive week 7 which made the pregnancy seem to stand still and take forever. As I write this I'm 11w4d along and doing VERY well. Items of note include:

• This pregnancy is even easier than the one with Morgan. With Morgan, I had some "almost" morning sickness that never materialized but I remember feeling like junk MUCH more often than I do now. I also used to get very dizzy in the shower with Morgan in the beginning and that hasn't happened once at all so far with this one.
• I think it might be a boy b/c of these differences in pregnancy. Adam is (reluctantly) thinking girl. We will DEFinitely be finding out when possible, likely around August sometime (at my 20-week u/s). I'm 55% hoping girl, 45% hoping boy, 100% hoping for another healthy little baby.
• I've really lucked out on fatigue as well. I could fall asleep when pregnant with Morgan by 7pm. I'm tired by 9ish but am easily up until 10 like usual although not every night of the week. 
• No super cravings or anything but spicy usually goes pretty well and I like it more than usual. Nothing crazy though. 
• Ugh, I'm already up 4lbs. I totally blame myself pulling the "P-card" too often and enjoying food a bit too much. I heart eating so in case we decide that 2's the number we're sticking with, I'm only going to be "moderately" careful about this. :) I AM looking to avoid another 40lb weight gain though so I'd better find some balance... ;-)
• I've definitely "popped" which reminds me we haven't taken a picture of (dun dun dunnnn) "the belly" since I was 6 weeks (actually 5 weeks in hindsight) and there's an absolute difference now. I can't blame it on food baby anymore, I think. This is especially true the past few days. I'm still in my regular clothes although I'm not going to lie - I've rubber-banded my jeans a few times now.

That's about that! I'm looking forward to it with a little (normal) trepidation. Hopefully this baby's a little easier in the beginning and just as fun as Morgan as s/he gets older. She's going to be a GREAT big sister. She's SUPER helpful/loving with the baby at daycare and loves to be around him. Funny story - the other day she was lying with me in bed after she woke up and I lifted my shirt to show her my belly. I said, "Morgan, look! Is there a baby in there?" and she gave me the weirdest look (you know, 'mom you're talkin' all nuts again') and said, "Noooooo" of course like I'm insane. I wouldn't expect her to understand when really I don't look all that different yet (to the outside world who doesn't get to see me in my skivvys). :) Looks like we'll be 4 by Christmas!