Baby Bump 24 Weeks

Here I am at 24 weeks.  As you can see, Baby is growing and so am I. 

I am feeling so good these days.  I have random moments of tingly happiness all over, kind of like the feeling you get after you have a massage.  It's wonderful!  My energy has returned and I'm actually able to do more than sleep all the time.  Baby Brother is kicking up a storm these days.  One night, after eating Taco Bell, he gave such a swift kick that Ryan was able to feel it.  That was a cool, if unhealthy, moment.  I am craving all kinds of savory & salty foods.  Sausage biscuits and gravy have been at the top of my list lately.  Tessa thinks it's hilarious that the baby doesn't like broccoli (it gives me horrible indigestion) since she doesn't like it either.  She claims that she is allergic, ha!  Cottage cheese with fruit is hitting the spot as is Captain Crunch cereal.  I'm trying not to go too crazy with food, but I am hungry all the time.  At least I am still able to exercise.  I walk Anabelle while Tessa is at school, I spin and I do yoga.  My yoga instructor told me this week that I'm still doing really good with balance.  I can pick things up off the floor without a problem but I find when I squat down it takes longer to get back up.  I never noticed how often I do these deep knee bends, especially at work.  But I notice now when I have to give an extra oomph to stand back up.  My doctor gave me a good report at my check up today.  I will go back in four weeks.             

Concert Night

Last night we were playing dress up and Tessa decided that she wanted to star in a concert.  She looked at me, very serious, and asked if we had a guitar.  Actually we do, and we have my grandpa's ukulele that is more size appropriate for her.  So I grabbed the camera and the concert began.  Too cute!

I taped several of her numbers and played them back for her.  I won't torture you with the videos where I was singing along.  This is a clip of her doing Rapunzel's song.  Her southern accent when she says hair just cracks me up. 

Apple Farm

We made our annual trip up to Sky Top on Labor Day week-end.  Tessa is getting so tall!

And this is Baby Brother's first trip to the apple farm so we took his picture in front of the sign too.

 

The weather was beautiful, finally we are having some sunny days.  We went out in search of apples.  Galas and Honeycrisp were ready for picking.  Honeycrisp apples are delicious and we soon discovered that those trees were picked clean.  But there were plenty of Galas for us to pick.  This was fun because we just read a Fancy Nancy book where she picks Gala apples.   

Daddy and Gampa took turns boosting Tessa up onto their shoulders.  The best apples were up high.  We picked two buckets before heading getting tired.  

 My cute little apple eater, um I mean picker. 

We paid for the apples we had picked and grabbed a bag of the precious Honeycrisp apples.  Then we settled down on a blanket in the shade to eat our picnic lunch.  For dessert we bought fresh cooked apple donuts, yummy.  Tessa played on the playground for a long time before we went on a hayride.  This is such a fun family tradition.    

Baby Bump

Here I am at 20 weeks pregnant, my first official baby bump picture!  My plan is to take pictures periodically while wearing this same shirt so I can really see how my belly grows. 

I have been wearing maternity clothes for weeks now.  Friends have shared their things and my mom took me on quite the shopping spree.  The jeans especially are so comfortable!  Why don't they make regular clothes like this?  Now that I know I am having a boy, I have an excuse for my enormous appetite.  Unfortunately, indigestion is kicking in making my afternoons a little uncomfortable.  I have never had indigestion before, I can usually eat anything, so this is an adjustment for me.  This baby is strongly opposed to pizza, one of my favorite foods.  Peanut butter, my go to staple for the first trimester, is also causing problems.  According to an old wives' tale, my indigestion means he is going to be born with lots of hair.  That one might hold true since Ryan and I certainly both have thick hair.  And that hair is probably going to be totally straight too, we don't have a single curl between us. 

 

Sometime after my 16 week appointment, I felt the first movements.  It felt like champagne bubbles in the left side of my belly.  At first I wasn't sure what I was feeling but my friends assured me that it was the baby.  I can feel him kick pretty regularly now and it's amazing.  His little flutters are too gentle for Ryan to feel yet.  But it's sweet when Ryan puts his hand on my belly and we both hold our breath trying to feel something.    

 

Overall I feel really good and am enjoying this pregnancy tremendously.  I tell Ryan all the time that a lot of that is due to him providing me such a pampered lifestyle.  He's a big help around the house and lets me get plenty of rest.  I thought my energy would return in the second trimester, but I am still sleeping all the time.  My coworkers pamper me too, making sure I don't lift too much or work too hard.  While I love all the attention, I don't want to be one of those annoying handicapped pregnant women.  With a few adjustments, like going to bed at eight o'clock and drinking tons of water, life is continuing in a fairly normal way.  

First Day of School

Who's ready for the first day of school?!?!?  Tessa is!!!  But first, you know Momma has to take a few pictures.

I can't believe my baby is going to kindergarten at "big school."  Last week we went up to meet her new teacher.  She has almost thirty years of experience and seems really nice.  Tessa and I did a little scavenger hunt together to get oriented to the classroom.  For this week, I will be able to walk Tessa into her classroom.  After these first few days, she will be navigating the halls by herself.   

A couple of days ago I had a good cry about school starting.  This marks the end of my time with just us two girls at home.  Next summer, my attention will be divided between Tessa and Baby Brother.  I have treasured these sweet years, but they have gone altogether too fast.   

Ryan came with us for the big first day.  We walked into the school, Tessa holding hands with each of us.  This was the only sign she gave that she was a little nervous.  But with Daddy on one side and Momma on the other, she bravely marched in with all the other kids and families.  She found her classroom and then her cubby where put up her backpack.  Then she took a seat at the table, ready to start the day.

Even though we are going to the nearest public school, we don't know one single kid in her class.  All of our neighborhood friends got different teachers.  With eight different kindergarten classes I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I am.  Tessa is a social kid and I know she will make new friends quickly.  I can't wait to hear all about her adventures at school.

It's a....

BOY!!!!!   Look at our handsome little guy.

We brought Tessa to this appointment with us so that she could see the baby.  I ate a Snickers and drank my one Diet Coke to ensure this baby would move around during the exam, which he certainly did.  The ultrasound tech didn't make us wait long to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.  One swipe over my belly with the ultrasound wand and it was very obvious this baby is a boy.  I burst into tears, not because I'm sad, just because it's such an emotional moment.  Then he gave this cute wave and we caught a picture of his sweet little hand.  The tech continued with the ultrasound taking all the necessary measurements and checking everything.  There was a tense moment where she thought something was wrong with my placenta.  But, it was just a bad angle.  Upon further exam everything looks great.  Tessa was unimpressed with the whole process but I am still glad we took her.  My doctor stuck his head in to check on us.  He had already predicted that I was having a boy.

We let the grandparents know our news and then, after all the excitement, we went out for my birthday dinner.  How fun that this appointment was on my birthday.  As we sat in a sports bar, munching on fried pickles and hot wings, Ryan assured me that I am going to be a great boy mom.  He pointed to his blue shirt and told me that he really didn't wear blue on purpose.  I looked down and was amazed to see that I was wearing a blue shirt too.  Coincidence?

Momma's Birthday

In honor of our upcoming trip to France, I had a French birthday this year.  I love all things French and may even decorate the nursery in a pink and black French theme if we are having a girl.  We celebrated at my parents' house on Sunday where my mom had this great cake and little French books and treasures for me.  Tessa loves the poodle on my cake.  She wants our next dog to be a poodle but this is not going over so well with Ryan.  Maybe a cockapoo, they are really cute dogs. 

Ryan shopped for French cheeses that I could actually eat.  Apparently, pregnant women are not supposed to eat unpasteurized cheeses.  Surprisingly, not all cheeses in the US are pasteurized especially the imported cheeses I love.  But the ones he found for us were delicious and we munched on cheese and crackers.  Tessa is quite adventurous when it comes to trying new cheeses.  She is going to do just fine in France.

I had a little helper when it came time to blow out candles and cut the cake.  Tessa wanted to take no chances at missing any of the icing. 

Tessa served me my cake.  She is sweeter than any icing I have ever tasted.  I do love this precious little girl.

Notice who else is nearby, just in case any food hits the floor.  It's my lovable furry vacuum cleaner.  Now that I am almost 20 weeks I am really starting to show.  More baby bump pictures coming soon.  While I don't want to admit to being another year older, I enjoyed celebrating with my family.

 

Tessa Turns Six

It seems like just yesterday this little sunbeam brightened our world for the first time, but that was actually six years ago!  Tessa is growing into a beautiful little lady.  She is sweet and sensitive with a big compassionate heart.  On occasion, she can give me plenty of sass, but usually she is well behaved and polite like the princess she is.     

Her new favorite thing to do is play games on the Disney Jr. website.  Her favorite shows are Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins and Jake & the Neverland Pirates.  It's a tie between the princess Barbie dolls and her Lego Friends which toy she likes the best.  Her favorite color is still red and her favorite foods are still strawberries and pizza.  When she grows up, she wants to be a painter at Disney World.  We love you precious girl.  Happy Birthday!

       

Birthday Party

Tessa wanted an Ariel birthday party this year.  So we had a photo shoot in one of our favorite Ariel costumes.  She makes a beautiful mermaid.

I used one of the pictures to order a personalized invitation off of Etsy.com.  We had a tense day when the listing was removed and I was afraid I would not be able to purchase this invitation.  But, not to worry, after chatting with the shop owner she assured me the invite was still available.  She had only taken it down because Ariel is such an "old" princess and she didn't realize how popular the mermaid still was.  Ariel can't be "old" I remember when her movie came out!  The finished invite is super cute.

This was our first birthday party we hosted outside of the home.  It was so much easier, why have I not done this before?  Our local gym has a great set-up for parties.  They provide this room, table cloths, all paper products and two people to entertain the kids with all sorts of games.  Of course, because I am me, I felt the need to add to the decorations so it would be Arielesque.  Ryan and my parents were great blowing up all these balloons and hanging the streamers.

And we couldn't have a mermaid party without some sort of water so we opted for the addition of a huge water slide.  This was optimistic on our part because it feels like it has rained every single day this summer.  We crossed our fingers, hoped for the best and got lucky.  The rain held off until the end of the party so the kids had plenty of time to slide. 

Hugs for the birthday girl.

These sweet girls all took a break from sliding so I could snap a picture.

Birthday hug from our BFF.

As it started to rain, we headed inside to change into dry clothes and have cake.  This year, Tessa's guest list was so long that we had cake and cupcakes too.  The birthday girl had both, of course!  

Quick picture of Momma with the birthday girl.

And then one of Momma, Daddy and the birthday girl.

And Tessa got to put her handprints on the wall of fame.  She chose to have her hands painted rainbow colored.  I am still amazed that none of the paint ended up on any of the partygoers because they were all crowded around Tessa while this was happening.

After eating cake and handprinting, we still had a few minutes to play games.  We did hula hoop musical chairs which is such a cute game.  It's like regular musical chairs where you take away one hoop while the music is playing, and then the kids all scrambled to be standing inside a hoop when the music stopped.  Whoever was left without a hoop had to step aside.  But, the consolation prize was that the kicked out kids got to hula hoop with the removed hoops so everybody had fun.  Tessa is developing a competitive spirit and beat out all but two of her friends. 

Before we knew it, the party was over and it was time to hand out party bags and say good-bye to our friends.  This is the only trick to having a party at a destination, when your time is up you really have to move out quickly.  We actually knew the boy having his party right after ours so I tried not to take too long.  Of course, both party groups ended up standing around and chit chatting.

The five of us went out to an early birthday dinner at a new Tex-Mex restaurant, Chuy's.  We have a sad lack of decent Mexican food here so, we were glad to see this Texas based chain moving into our area.  It was yummy, even if I couldn't have a margarita.

Then we came home so Tessa could open all of her wonderful presents.  This is one happy birthday girl!

Big Sister

We told our parents very early but waited until after our 12 week ultrasound to tell Tessa.  She is so excited to be a big sister.  We take pretend trips to the grocery, on our magic carpet of course, to get the baby milk and other baby essentials.  She hopes it's a girl and, if it is, she wants to name her Jewel.  She is going to be a fabulous big sister!