Baby #2: The First Few Weeks

So now that the news is out there in blog land and I can catch myself up on the pregnancy up until this far.  And now that I am close to 17 weeks I have a lot to cover so I apologize for these text heavy posts.  :)

John and I found out that we were expecting back on July 22nd.  I had a pretty good feeling I was pregnant because I had heartburn at night again and had to take tums before bed like three nights in a row.  Occassionally, when I am not pregnant I get heartburn but that is after I eat  a lots of yummy, bad for you food.  That was not the case this time and not three nights in a row.  So I had a good feeling.  And of course, this was something we were hoping for.  We had returned for Poland and was hoping for this to happen as soon as possible so we were over the moon with the positive test.

Because I had the heartburn, I had a feeling I was pregnant.  Well on the 23rd I had a massage scheduled with a sitter lined up to watch Elsie in the morning.  A few days before my appointment I made a mental note not to take a test until after my appointment because I know my massage therapist doesn't want to give massages during the first trimester.  Well that slipped my mind the night of the 22nd and I decided to take the test.  John was working late, Elsie was in bed and I just wanted to know.  After I took the test, saw it was positive it finally dawned on me that I had my appointment the next morning.  I quickly shot off an email to Missy begging for some form of massage and of course, she said to let my baby grown big and strong and she would see me in the second tri.  This same thing happened with my third pregnancy so I knew her stance on it but what are the odds.  The last two appointments made I had to cancel the night before because I found out I was pregnant-ha!  I shared the news with John when he got home that night.

The next day instead of my appointment, I did a little shopping since I had Tanner lined up to babysit and I didn't want to bail on her.  That evening we were supposed to go to Zoo Brew down in Des Moines for date night but instead hit up one our favorite restaurants in Ames instead since I wouldn't be able to partake in any of the beer at Zoo Brew.

On Thursday (7/24) I finally put a call into my doctor.  The last time around (my third pregnancy) they didn't have me come in for any testing (bloodwork) which helps determine if my pregnancy is progressing the way it should.  This was the testing done during my first pregnancy that led them to believe I had an ectopic pregnancy.  With Elsie the bloodwork showed things seems normal and with the third, well I believe if they had done the early bloodwork to monitor hormone levels they would have discovered earlier that it would end in a miscarriage.  I figured it would be the same this time around but when I called they wanted me in that day for my first blood test.  The first test was just used as a baseline and then I went in for a second test and like we hoped it has increased to the level it should be.  I REALLY wish I would have written the numbers down and maybe I will ask the next time.  When they called with the results from the second test they said they wanted to schedule an ultrasound.  So on August 7th at  6w1d I went in for our first ultrasound.  And much to our relief we saw the baby.  Having this be the fourth time we have had an early ultrasound done I know the feeling too well of discovering a problem at this appointment and so I did not go into it with excitement as most women probably do.   So not only did we see the baby where it should be but were able to see the little flicker of a heartbeat.  Which is crazy to me because this babe was only 2mm big!

Like Elsie, they told me that once a heartbeat was detected the risk of miscarriage decreases.  Although I was relieved to see everything so far was so good I knew until my next appointment at 10 weeks when they do another ultrasound I just wouldn't feel 100% reassured.  In fact, we waited a little bit to even tell Elsie.  Even though she had no idea she was going to be a big sister or her mom had a "baby in her belly" she was still telling people.  Little did she know she was right.  I think she was originally saying it because two of her friends from daycare were going to be big sisters and thier mom's had a baby in their belly.

In fact, the weekend we told my parents at (5w5d) Elsie had spent the weekend with them.  When we shared the news on Sunday my mom said she already  knew because Elsie had told them.  WHAT?  We had never even said anything of the sort to Elsie or talked about it around her.  I asked her why she said that and she ran off and got one of her Little Lutheran books that has a picture of an ultrasound and we had talked about what that was.  So anyways...long story short she was just talking randomly and didn't even know she was right or that she spilled the beans :).

The main symptom at this point was heartburn-otherwise I felt great.

Night Eyes 2014

On Friday October 17th, John, Elsie and I went to Night Eyes at the Blank Park Zoo.  We had plans to meet up with our friends, Nick, Hillary, Owen and Brady but they were going to be arriving a little later than us.  I had no idea what to expect.  What we discovered was that pretty much once you got in, you get on the "treat trail" that takes you around the zoo.  You just follow the crowd.  I wasn't really expecting that which meant we didn't meet up with the others until the very end.  Also, as we were getting out of the vehicle we looked a few cars down and there was Kara, her friend Jamie and the boys getting out of their van.  We started out together but split up towards the beginning.

My beautiful Princess-Belle.  The crown lasted as long as it took for this picture :)

Hans and Franz (and Jamie)

First Treat Station.  It took her a few stations to get the hang of this whole trick or treat business.

While I went to buy tickets for the train Elsie and John walked around and took all these pictures.  Haha

One of the most interesting things about going to the zoo at night was that the big cats were actually acvitve.  We are members of the zoo so we have gone numerous times and never once have the lions or tigers been up moving around-just lounging.  But this night the male was running around, it would squat down, then take off running towards the female.  The tiger was also up wandering around and walked right in front of us.  

 Of course we had to ride the carousel.  

Finally met up with Owen, Brady, Nick and Hillary.  

And these two had a blast running around.  The alligator chasing after the princess :)

We were litterally one of the last vehicles in the lot!  Although it wasn't quite what I expected we still had a fun time!  

Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Last weekend (10/12) Elsie, John and I set out to pick out our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.  In years past we have gone to an orchard what has a ton of different activities for the kids to do.  We buy a season pass and go a couple of times a season.  We normally go during the week but we decided to try first thing a Sunday.  We got there and it was just CRAZY!!  So busy so we turned around and decided we would go back as a family to do the activities during the week.  So we went to another favorite location nearby-The Berry Patch.  We go there a few times a year to pick strawberries, raspberries, apples and this year-pumpkins.  It was perfect!  There was hardly anyone there vs. the hundreds of people that were at the other orchard.  We grabbed a wagon and walked on down to the pumpkin patch.  

 

Elsie just had to pull the wagon :)

Four pumpkins-one for each of us and one for the baby.

The weekend before (10/4)  we were invited to our friends Kara and Orson's land where they had planted a pumpkin patch.  They invited friends and all the kiddos to come out and pick out a pumpkin or two and run around and play.  It was a little chilly but the kids had a blast and didn't keep up from spending almost two hours running around.  Thanks for inviting us Kara!   

Coming April 2015. . .

The newest addition to our little family!  We are so excited to share that our family of three is growing to a family of four!  Our little babe is due April 1st and we just couldn't be happier.  I am currently 15 weeks along and have been meaning to write about this for quite some time but life has been busy and I am so far behind on blogging.  I had also hoped to have a picture to accompany this post but that just might come later ;)  It is hard to believe that our next appointment is the anatomy scan already and I am in the second trimester.  Elsie is excited to have a little baby brother or baby sister (who we should name Donald or Daisy after Daisy and Donald Duck of course).  I will post more about how the pregnancy is going and more details but for now I wanted to share our good news!

Life in July

What a wonderful, busy month!  July always seems so busy because you are right in the heart of summer and there is so many fun things to do and this year was the same.

The month started with us coming home on July 1st from Poland.  It was so good to be home and see Elsie (despite the fact that we had a WONDERFUL time in Poland).   We decided to take the next week pretty easy.

Fourth of July we chose to stay home instead of try to go camping somewhere since we had just come back from Poland.  The city of Ames was celebrating their 150th Anniversary so they had a parade and big thing downtown so we headed over that way to check it out.

The crew:  Dale and Bev, Jack and Marlys, Todd, Brandi, Emma and Olivia, and John, Tanya and Elsie.  This seems to be our typical parade crew.  

Elsie had fun watching the floats, trying to get candy (there wasn't too much of it which was okay by me :) and waving to all the people in the parade.  After the parade we walked downtown to check out what they had to offer in regards to food and activities.  There was a lot going on but the lines for food and to do the bounce house were SUPER long and I had one tired, hungry girl so we headed to Pizza Ranch where we knew we would get food quickly :).  On the way out the girls hit up the little toy vending machines, Emma and Olivia got mustaches and Elsie got a duck whistle.  

After lunch we headed home, put Elsie down for nap and then started working outside.  We have wanted to powerwash the deck and side patio but hadn't really had much time to do so until after we got back from our trip.  Oh my goodness it made such a big difference.  

On the left shows the clean side and on the right you can see the gray/mildew/green/black side of the deck.  I am still shocked at how much of a difference it made.  Later in the night we ended up walking to the park to see fireworks (Elsie's first time) in town with Dale, Bev, Brandi, Emma, and Olivia.  The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out, running errands, playing, and then on Sunday we headed over to the Ames pool where we met up wtih Brandi, Todd and the girls.  They have a perfect little kids area.  They also have a little bit bigger slide that you have to be 36" to go down and I think Elsie could have gone down it all day long.  For most of the time one of her cousins took her down but toward the end she was by herself.  It was actually the first time she had experience with standing in a line like that by herself.  I ended up having to go stand with her to guide her through the line and help her when it was her turn.  

The next weekend we headed up to MN to celebrate Allie's birthday.  We stayed at my parent's like always.  Some highlights from the weekend:  

Sleeping in a toddler bed (the same one my mom slept in and I slept in growing up)

Lawn Mower Rides with Grandpa

Catching Toads

Just some pictures of the Tally Monster who got to go swimming for the first time! 

Allie's Birthday

Twillight swimming with Daddy, Grandpa, and Tally

Swimming with Rylin and Cole on Sunday and stopping by Mel and Spanks, and playing with Greta and Wyatt while we visited them at their new home.  Whew!  It was a fun and busy weekend.  

During the week Elsie and I met up with a group of friends at the local beach for some swim time and a picnic.  

Later in the week Elsie and I hit up a new park and had another little picnic.  I am always amazed at how confident and able she is on these playgrounds!  

July Doughnut Dates

On July 17th I went out with some friends downtown Ames for Firefly Country Night.  

There were three singers:  Danny Grause (went to John's high school), Leah Turner, and Frankie Ballard.  None of them too popular but Frankie Ballard is on the radio at least :)  We ended up making our way up into the front of the crowd.  

On Saturday we hit up another park, this time with John.  I wrote all about it in this post. But here are a couple pics from the day.  We biked from Big Creek State Park to Polk City for lunch and ran into TInker Bell and Cinderella.

Then spent some time at the beach in the afternoon.  

On Sunday, John and I tried our hand at making pickles.  As I write this in September we have triend all three different recipes.  The spears are good, the bread and butter pickles are good but the zesty dill are SALTY!  

In July we also bought Elsie a little bit bigger swimming pool and she loved to spend her summer afternoons just chillin.

The last two weeks in July we started parent/child swim lessons.  Elsie loved the water and loved playing with the diving ring, although she would not put her face in the water to retrieve it.  She would use her feet to bring it up to the surface.  Also in her class were two other girls from daycare-Aubrey and Charli and her friend Rowan. Tanner helped with Charli during swim lessons so the girls loved having her there.  

TT with her girls!

The last weekend in July we packed up and headed down for our annual trip to Lake Rathbun to the cabin.  It was a wonderful weekend. Before we left we headed over to our backyard neighbor.  They have a WONDERFUL garden were going to be gone for two weeks and told us to help ourselves.  Elsie loved picking the green beans.  So we picked enough to share with everyone at the cabin.  

We got up on Friday night and enjoyed the evening by the fire.  

Campfire and four wheeling

On Saturday we headed out on the lake.  We parked out at a sandbar and then took turns heading out to ski/tube

Elsie's first time on a tube. 

We finally had to upgrade to a child's life jacket vs an infant PFD.  She is right on the line at 30 lbs and this one that she picked out fit her perfect :).  Of course it has Disney Princesses on it.  

We left first thing Sunday morning for home.  I ended up coming down with a stomach bug and was down for the count for the rest of the day.  But the weekend was a great time!  

The last week in July we finished up swim lessons and then on Thrusday July 31st Amber and I loaded up their Suburban with the two of us and three kiddos and our stuff for the weekend and headed up to MN.  We had our annual ERHS friends weekend (I'll post about the weekend in our August post).  The kids did great on the four hour drive and we dropped them off with the grandparents before making the rest of the trek to the lake.  (Marc and John came up the following day).