Baby Updates

Well, here we are...16 weeks pregnant and with a 13 month old!!  How, oh how, can that be?

I thought I'd update a little on how pregnancy is going this time around, and also it's past time I gave an Elise update...she is a growing like a weed!

First up, lil E.

This little girl continues to be a blessing.  She is thirteen months and some change...and she's had some major developments!  She eats well, though doesn't particularly love her veggies (we're getting them in her still, however).  She LOVES snacking and eating in general though...interesting thing is at last appointment she hadn't gained any weight, but had gained a lot in height!  So we'll see what happens at next appointment.  She does eat non-stop.

She's gotten great at going down for naps and bedtime...without even a peep.  We tuck her in beside Alex and Woof Woof and cover her with a blanket and asleep she goes.  She still doesn't take long naps during the day (about 50 minutes the first time and 1.5 hours the second time), but she seems to function just fine, so we'll take what we get.  She's a wonderful sleeper at night and never wakes up, but since our recent time change she's reverted back to waking up at around 6 am...hopefully her body will soon decide 7 am is a nicer wake-up time :)

She walks like a champ and LOVES dancing and singing.  Her favorite video is on youtube and is an animated Barefoot book called "Portside Pirates."  She even knows some hand motions to it that we taught her :)   Her vocab now includes:  baby, water, banana, uh oh, ball, dada, mama, up, button, Alex, yum, woof woof, whoa, and wow (all of course said in her sweet little baby voice).

She still has only 3.5 teeth...haha!  They're the cutest little partial teeth (not even all the way out yet).  The top two have started coming in, and 1.5 on the bottom are working their way out as well.

And while she's mostly incredibly sweet, she's started to test us, oh yes.  Discipline now has a meaning in this house.  She knows the word "no" and its meaning, but she's easily willing to see if she can get away with something a second, third, fourth time, etc.  Jas and I are navigating new parenting waters, and we're learning just how sinful we are at the same time.  The joys of parenthood, eh!?

So that's our little 13 month old in a nutshell!  We love the socks off of her ;)

And now here's the rundown on how things are going pregnancy wise.

(apparently I have a thing for gray and stripes)

Pregnancy, oh pregnancy.  As I mentioned before I had a rough two + weeks about two weeks ago.  Since then things (namely nausea, tiredness) have been increasingly more random, but I've felt better overall.  In fact, I actually have some energy this time around that I didn't really have with Elise.  I still try to get in (at least :) one nap a day...typically when E naps.  I have a fairly consistent bedtime of approximately 9:30 pm..I mean isn't that when all 26 year olds go to bed? ;)

I've had no real cravings (at least nothing that has lasted longer than a few days), but truly my appetite has yet to return.  I'm ready to want to eat again and enjoy it!

We had an appointment today and thankfully (praise the Lord!) the baby looks healthy.  We saw he/she move around and wave at us, which never fails to amaze me.

I feel like this time around I'm poking out a bit sooner...woo hoo for bellies that already know what to do ;)  But we're continually thankful, hopeful, and prayerful for this lil one God is growing.  It's in His hands.  Amazing.

So that's all the updating we've got going on over here for now...time to sign off, my bedtime is quickly approaching ;)

It's love...

These two love each other (and I'm pretty sure they love me too ;)

And equally I have some big love for them!

(just look at that little tooth in the first pic...cuteness!!!)

Elise's BFF

We would like for you to meet Elise's bestest friend...

That's Alex.  He's quickly become Elise's most cherished and adored fuzzy friend :)  She got him for her birthday from her grandparents and hasn't looked back since.  She won't take a nap without him (or her other small stuffed dog "woof woof"), which has been AWESOME.  Now she has a routine (we tuck Alex in on one side of her, woof woof in on the other, and cover her with a blanket) and she hardly cries...or get this, she doesn't cry at all!  She will just go to sleep.  Thank you, Alex!

The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning or after a nap is say "Aleehh, Aleehh" (which is, of course, in her language...Alex).

Oh, Alex, how we love you too.

She will also go all over the house looking for Alex if you ask her "Where is Alex, Elise!?"  Cutest. thing. ever.

I decided to do a quick impromptu shoot the other day with E and Alex...so that we don't forget this cute stage of Alex adoration.

(please excuse the bad lighting...it was impromptu and later in the evening...my natural light was pretty much expended and I didn't want to forget to do it the next day, so I broke the golden rule of no shooting without natural light.  ahhhh well)

That involved pretty much no coaching from me...she just loved on Alex willingly.  They make a cute pair, wouldn't ya say? :)

Sightings by the Lake (and thankfulness)

Ok, this post is going to be filled with some fun, interesting animals AND with me taking a minute to gush about my hubby.  You ready for this? :)

So apparently I spoke a little too soon about this pregnancy being better than last.  It seems it's caught up with me!  For the last week or so I've been feeling exhausted, spending far too much time with a toilet (TMI, I'm sure), and just feeling overwhelmed with growing a baby inside (don't get me wrong, I'm still incredibly thankful...it's just apparently no easy task for my body ha).  BUT, my man has been taking good good care of us.  He's trying his very very best not to complain, but to just do.  He's cleaned, he's cooked, he even voluntary went to the local pharmacy when he was supposed to be taking some 'him time' and asked for some anti-nausea medicine for me.  I'm thankful for him.

He's also taken E out a couple times over the past weeks for walks or to play at a local indoor playplace.  This gives me some time to just "veg" (or rather, sleep in peace, throw up in peace, or cry in peace haha...this stage of pregnancy TOO SHALL PASS, right? ;)  Basically, he's been SuperDad (thanks, babe!).

One such time out together they decided to venture across the road to our nearby lake.  Right next to the lake is a popular spot for out-of-town circuses.  This time it is an Italian circus there, but often it's Hungarian, etc.  Jas claimed that Elise needed to see the animals, but I, myself, think really the kid in him just wanted to see them ;)

And he caught some great shots of these animals...let's start with my fav:

Doesn't everyone have a camel chillin' in their backyard?  LOVE that face!

Or maybe an elephant like below?

The lake is also a great place to watch the swans (we've literally watched these guys grow up over the last year...)

And finally this day in particular there was a sailboat regatta (hope that is the right word...Jas taught me that ha :) happening on the lake.

He took some great shots, huh!?

And finally I snapped one good one too...

Today I am going to look at that pic above and choose to be thankful for the man God provided me with (not just) during this challenging pregnancy season of life...I'm also going to look at that cute little girl and realize that 28 weeks of nausea was totally worth it, just as I pray that all the nausea this time around will be worth it again come April :)  Much to be thankful for.

 What are you thankful for today?  Perhaps that zebra out your window? ;)

Two Simple (but fun!) Mini-Projects

Off and on for the past couple of weeks I have been working on two, what I could call, mini-projects.   These were projects that weren't incredibly difficult by any means, but I just took my time on and enjoyed them as I was doing them (little by little due to a toddler and pregnancy exhaustion/sickness :)

First up is this little coloring mounted on a piece of wood board (small canvases are hard to come by here, or I would have probably used that, but I actually think it worked out pretty well!):

I printed out this flower coloring page (that I first heard about from this blog).  I then just enjoyed the mess out of using my fancy Prismacolor colored pencils to fill it all in....so. much. fun. for an old art minor (ha).  I'm such a kid...I love coloring :p

After I was satisfied with my coloring, I cut out the drawing and modge-podged it to the wood board.  One final coat of MP and I let it dry.  Now she sits on the kitchen table just waiting for her final location to be decided (hmmm...where am I going to put it!?).

I thoroughly enjoyed this simple little project!

Next up, Elise's BIG SIS onesie :)  This was a fun quick project also.

For this I found a font I liked on picmonkey, typed out BIG SIS in a size I thought would work, and then printed that bad boy out.  I stuck the print out under the onesie and then, carefully, with Sharpie traced the letters.  Super simple, but effective.  Finally, I added some little dots just for fun :)  Of course, I knew when I did this that Sharpie isn't ideal (at all) for fabric, but I knew this would be a one time wear (the onesie is too small and it was mainly just to be used for 'announcing').  Fabric markers would be a much better choice.

But I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I definitely miss being able to do bigger, more involved projects, but ya know, these mini projects satiate my desire to create...so that works too.

Now go get your CREATE on! :)

Sharing some NEWS!

So today we've got some news to share:

It's true!  She's going to be a big sis :)

I'm currently 13 weeks pregnant (due early to mid April) and this time around things are different than when I was pregnant with Elise.  With E I was sick (literally) almost every day for 28 weeks straight!  Ick.  This time around I've been sick, but not as often or as regularly.  I've also been dealing with tiredness and bloating which I didn't really have first pregnancy....but all that to say, we're hanging in over here :)

We're thankful and excited that Elise is going to have a little brother or sister, but of course we're prayerful and hopeful that it will be a healthy pregnancy (and baby!).  Thanks for praying with us!

Two Favorites

I usually don't keep blurry photos.  Bath time was coming to an end and I just snapped them quickly (with no technicality whatsoever).  But I just can't resist these two photos...blurry and all.

Elise generally (on non-cranky days) LOVES bath time.  Bubbles, toys, discovering the water coming from the spout...she loves it.  But what makes bath time even better you ask?

When Dad dons his swim trunks and hops in the tub too.  Fun amplified?  I think yes!

He's a great dad.  I'm so thankful he is her daddy.

Not sure where her smile is on that last one, but take my word for it, she likes bath time :)

Pinterest Project: Easy Sensory Bags

My friend Boba and I have been working together to create some fun little projects and ideas for baby/toddler "Sunday School" time on Sunday's.  Of course we're working with incredibly short attention spans here, but we want to engage their minds and of course impart Christ to them in the process!

All that to say we usually do some songs, play with the parachute, an easy/simple game, and a small craft or activity.  I think she and I enjoy it more than the kids (which usually it's just her son Filip and our Elise, but that's ok! :)

So when I found these little sensory bags on pinterest, I thought I'd give them a try.

All I did was fill plastic baggies (the double zip kind) with cheap hair gel, then added anything I wanted that would be fun and interactive to push around and discover.  I added numbers, letters, little shapes, big stickers, and glitter.  Ideally it would have been great to add beads, but I didn't have any on hand.

And finally, the consensus...Both Elise and Filip played with them for just short periods of time (read: squished them around and twisted the bags).  I think these would be better for kids aged 2 to 3, maybe...then they could search and find colors, shapes, numbers, letters, etc.  But it was a quick, fun, colorful project nonetheless :)

Just thought I'd share!  Have a great Monday!