pregnancy halfway mark + deep thoughts :)

{20 Weeks}

In an effort to document this pregnancy, here are some thoughts about being 22 weeks pregnant with our second child.

• We are so excited to be having a boy. I had several dreams of him before we got the gender confirmation and he was a cute little guy with lots of dark hair. We'll see if he follows in Ellie's footsteps with her crazy, fun hair! Need a reminder? Check this out: 

{Ellie's 1-month-old mullet mohawk}

• Overall, I feel calmer this pregnancy. Not so obsessed with the dos and don'ts of pregnancy and the bazillion things that could go wrong. Not as scared about childbirth, and not as daunted by having a newborn. I don't feel the need to read any and every article or book about all things pregnancy and baby. But don't get me wrong. I still get major butterflies about everything. Just to a slightly lesser degree. And I'm really thankful for that.
• I am, however, a little reluctant to give up the time I have right now with just Ellie and I. I recently wrote this little letter that expresses my feelings about that better:  

Dear Ellie,

Right now, your cute little two-and-almost-a-half year-old self is taking a nap in your crib. My heart is so full of emotion for you right now that I have to get some of it down on paper. You can understand and sense a lot at your young age, but I hope you can comprehend the deep level of love I have for you, my sweet baby. You and I have such a strong bond. It is so special to me and I hope and pray we always have it. I miss you even when I am away from you for an hour. I always look forward to seeing you every morning when you wake up. You are so sweet to me. When I am sick, you get very compassionate and want to help me feel better by asking if I need medicine, a snack, tucking me in, singing me a song, and just being sweet and well-behaved while I take a little break.

You get so excited about things, and I love the enthusiastic “Yeah!” you let out when I suggest something fun to do or say I have something to show you. When I lay you in your crib at night, you ask what we are going to do the next day. You have so much energy and love for life. You always want to be doing something, discovering something and being a part of whatever I am up to.

You have a sensitive spirit, like my mom always told me I have. You sense the emotions people close to you are feeling and are very aware of what is going on around you. If someone is unkind to you, it affects you a lot. If when I am feeling emotional or on edge, you tend to take on the same mood and things can turn teary around here pretty quickly. I always feel so bad if I talk to you in a short or annoyed tone and I am trying to learn more patience so I don’t have to do that. I wish I could be a perfect mom for you because you deserve that. But I am trying every day to make you happy and help you grow and develop as much as possible. I want you to have a happy childhood and fulfilling life. You are the most important thing in the world to me.

I am so grateful for you in my life and I would never trade any experience, possession or anything for you and the richness you bring to my life. I love our days together. These days, we wake up and read books and snuggle together then play with your toys and pretend all sorts of things. You “do your makeup” on your stool in the bathroom next to me while I do mine. We eat breakfast together then go out and do whatever that day has in store for us — usually your tumbling tots class, story time at the library or visiting dad and running errands.  Most of the time, though, you would be content to stay at home all day and play (as long as I play with you!) I will always cherish the days we are having together just you and me, girl.

I know you will be such a good big sister and example to your little brother and that he will love and adore you like you will him. I am so glad you are in our family. No matter what happens in your life, always remember the deep love your mom and dad have for you and the even deeper love your Heavenly Father has for you. 

• Going back to my list, I am so grateful the baby inside me is healthy. Any mother who has given birth to a child knows that one of the truest miracles on earth is a whole, healthy baby. To know and witness that everything, inside and out, has come together perfectly, is no accident and it is a personal, powerful confirmation that there is a God.
• We had to get an extra precautionary ultrasound at the hospital the other day and the doctor could not stop commenting on how active baby boy was. He said something along the lines of, "you must have spunky babies." Oh I know, doc. I know.
• I can't believe spring is right around the corner, then summer will be here before we know it and we will be adding #2 to our family. So exciting and crazy. You parents of two, please don't hold back your helpful advice about the transition :) 

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday this year started out with my usual e-mail from FutureMe.org (I write an e-mail to myself on every birthday with goals, predictions, etc. and it is sent to me on my next birthday). A couple snippets from this year's e-mail: 

I bet you are having a baby soon! Hope so. I hope you are enjoying motherhood more as time goes by and that you remember how important it is to invest time in those little babies and how much joy it brings you.

I hope you remember how happy you were on this birthday and hope you are so happy again on this birthday ... and remember that happiness is a choice.

Give that husband of yours a kiss--he is amazing.

Happy Birthday! Live it up!

The aforementioned husband made me this delicious breakfast: 

 {Egg "mcmuffin," fresh squeezed OJ and our usual green smoothie} 

Then, Clay stayed home with Ellie so I could get in a good workout at the gym. After lunch at Kneaders (their salads are my new favorite!) we headed to a local French bakery. I got the mille-feiuelles (Napoleon) and Clay got an amazing chocolate mousse concoction. I prefer the Napoleons at Kneaders and Gloria's Little Italy a lot more than this one, but Clay's choice left nothing to be desired. 

That night, I celebrated with a few good friends (and sisters) by hosting a 

Favorite Things & Fondue party. 

 {The guests}

 {The favorite things. We drew numbers and chose our gifts — each one could be stolen once. I gave my favorite water bottle, an Intak by Camelbak and got some lotion and cute socks.}

 {Everyone wrote down their favorite things — recipe, book, restaurant, movie, song, perfume, store and blog — and I e-mailed the list to all of the guests after the party.}

{We ate dessert fondue, and everyone went home with a jar of caramel sauce or hot fudge — both from Our Best Bites. Too bad there was a lot left over, because I couldn't resist eating it by the spoonful the next day.}

The party left me thinking of all sorts of takes on favorite things parties — favorite things for kids, spouses, favorite homemade treat, DIY craft . . . I think I'll have to make it a yearly tradition. 

Around here

Just some random snapshots of what we've been up to lately . . . 

We were happy to get a snowstorm and even happier that it was springtime-sunny just a few days later. 

This girl LOVES her books. 

Ellie will dance to pretty much anything . . . even sound of the washer. I loved catching her in the middle of this little jig:

And some favorite quotes from Ellie:

• "Mom, you feelin' better? You need your medicine? Can I kiss it better?" Such phrases are said as she tilts her head to the side and furrows her eyebrows. This cuteness is the only perk to being sick.

• "Let's have a dance party!"

• A few days before we went to get our ultrasound, I had told Ellie the nurse was going to put "jelly" on my belly. The morning of our appointment, she said, "You gonna put peanut butter on your belly?" I laughed.

• Last night's prayer before dinner: "Thank you for mommy and daddy and ducks and tuna ... amen!" 
• When I get older, I'll go on a treadmill all myself! Will you take me to the treadmill at the gym?
• In the car the other day, "Heartbreaker" was on the radio and we heard Ellie softly singing, "break, break, break, break your heart" along with Chris Brown. Every time a song she likes comes on, she asks who is singing and the title of the song. 

Next up: Birthday celebrations!

It's a . . .

BOY! Just like I thought all along. :)

We couldn't be happier.

Valentine's Date

Valentine's Day was a great one this year. After a rough morning, I put Ellie in the car and was pleasantly surprised to find it sparkling clean — something that had been on my to must do list for awhile. Since Clay gets to work at 6 something a.m., I wondered when he managed to sneak the car away from me. Oh don't worry — he got up before 5 a.m. for this little surprise. I've got a good man.

The night after Valentine's Day, we put Ellie to bed early and headed out for a rare treat: Dinner and a movie. At an actually movie theater.

{My little sister and her roommate kindly stayed at our place while Ellie slept. We are lucky to have her!}

We shared some yummy salmon and coconut rice at Spark, although we considered stopping here instead ...

Not! Clay pointed it out as we drove past it and warily said, "Why is it so steamy in there?" Gross. But who knows, maybe it's amazing.

After dinner, we made it just in time to see "The Vow." We thought it would be a classic romantic V-day flick, and it was.

On our way to the movie, Clay noticed what our odometer said. Cool! We made wishes, but Clay still won't tell me his.

And one last shot from a little Valentine's dinner at our church:

There are those times when I take the people in my life (like these two) for granted, and those times, like now, when I am fully aware of how lucky I am to have them.

Hope you had a great Valentine's week.

Tumbling Tots

Before winter started, I knew I needed to figure out something to keep Ellie active throughout the indoor season. We loved the free trial class we did at The Little Gym, but the price tag made us forego that. I was really excited when I found out our local Parks & Rec has a Tumbling Tots program. Since it was only 25 bucks, I expected very little but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be just as good (if not better) than what we experienced at The Little Gym. 


Ellie learned a lot about following instructions, waiting for her turn and basic gymnastics like walking on a balance beam, doing somersaults and hanging on a bar. This class has been a heaven sent for us. 


She just had her last class and awards ceremony, which I was sad I had to miss, but I gave Clay a strict commission to snap lots of photos. He didn't disappoint. Her hair might have been crazy, but he got some great shots. 

Warm-up Exercises

Balance Beam

Rolling on the Mat

The Parachute

Tunnel Time

Waiting for a turn

 

Trampoline

 Snack time

Sharing Valentines

The Medal Ceremony

We signed up for the next session of classes and this time a couple of her friends are joining in, so it will be even better! 

The bear suit & other wardrobe favorites

Last winter, Ellie donned this cute little hand-me-down snow suit from her cousin, Kate.

We got lucky enough to get another one in a bigger size handed down to us for this winter. I was surprised when Ellie wanted to keep it on — hat and all — the entire day. Including for her nap.

Ellie doing a bear roar. So frightening. 

Zonked out in the bear suit

But that's not the only thing she's been insisting on wearing lately. Whenever we do laundry, she finds particular white articles of clothing, puts her arms through the leg holes and says, "Look! I'm an angel!" She often says, "I need to find my angel clothes." Luckily, I have found that a silky slip will do the trick most of the time.

The Y on her cheek was from this fun little shindig. In the first shot of the event, you can see my little half sister helping Ellie over the high jump bar in the background. She loved spending two hours at the event and kept asking to play basketball. That's our little athlete in training! Let's just hope she inherits her dad's skills.

Back to the initial topic of Ellie's wardrobe lately . . . I laid out a shirt and some leggings for her today and was getting ready to put them on her when she said, "I need to wear a dress." I managed to talk her out of one of her fancier sunday dresses and into a more casual one, but that didn't stop her from twirling around and saying, "I'm a ballerina!" So it begins.