14 Weeks

Baby's size? Baby is the size of a lemon and measures 3.5 inches and weighs 1.5 ounces.
Weight Gain? I'm not sure yet. I have my next appointment on Thursday so I should know by them. I'm hoping it's not too much!
Maternity clothes? Oh, yes.  I've been out of my regular clothes for quite some time.  I can still wear a lot of my dresses but I had to buy a couple pairs of maternity shorts and a couple tank tops.
Stretch marks?  Nope.  I never got any when I was pregnant with JJ and I'm hoping I don't this time, either!
Belly Button in or out? In.
Sleeping? Sleeping is still pretty easy for me other than the no breathing through the nose thing.  My nose has been stuffed since I found out I was pregnant.
Foods I am loving? No real cravings so far.  I have been liking water and fruit more than I usually would.  Strangely enough I don't want a Dr. Pepper every day like I did before.  It's a good thing though so I'm hoping it lasts throughout the pregnancy.
Foods I'm hating? Fried foods are about it.  The thought of fried chicken just makes my stomach churn.
Movement? I don't think I've felt anything yet.  There are a couple times I felt flutters but I don't know if that was baby or...um...something else.  :)
Best moment this week? Reaching the 2nd trimester!
Symptoms? Big belly is the biggest symptom I have right now.  The exhaustion and constant need to pee is starting to go away and for that I am thankful!
Gender? Don't know yet.  We have about 5 weeks to go!
What I miss? Not a lot I've had to miss yet.
What I'm looking forward to? Watching JJ become a big brother!
Milestones? None other than reaching the 2nd trimester.
Emotions? Ready to find out if JJ's going to have a brother or sister!

Another First

Today we had another first. JJ suddenly decided he wanted his training wheels off of his bike. Jorge obliged and within minutes JJ was getting the hang of it! I was lucky enough to get video of his 2nd attempt. It was amazing to watch him learn how to control the bike. He was so determined to get it. And boy did he! Tonight after church the first thing he asked was to ride his bike, so Jorge and I spent the evening watching him ride up and down the sidewalk.

He was unbelievably happy just riding back and forth, back and forth.  I honestly believe he could do it for hours. I am amazed how quickly he mastered it. Such a spunky, determined little boy we have!

Back In The Saddle!

A lot has happened since I last wrote a blog.  I FINALLY have a laptop in the house so hopefully I can start posting regularly again.  It's so hard to know where to start.  My last post consisted of an update on Easter,  Mother's Day, and Father's Day 2011.  Instead of trying to catch up and write a post on every.single.thing. that has happened since then I think I'm going to just pick up where we currently are.

The biggest news/event of the moment is that I'M PREGNANT with baby #2!!!  Due November 26th.  On March 24th I took the test that confirmed my suspicions.

 It was early Saturday morning before anyone else was awake.  Everything I read said that if you have high temps for 18 days after ovulation then you are pregnant so I waited until day 18.  I could have tested sooner but I kept putting it off because I was afraid I would end up disappointed.  I, thankfully, was not disappointed that morning!  The first feelings were unbelief and shock.  That soon turned into happy tears of gratefulness.  After preparing myself for possibly never having another baby I could not believe how fortunate I was that God was giving me what I had wished for for so long.  After I spent a good 20 minutes running around the house crying (I tell ya, I was crazy!) I decided that I couldn't wait to tell Hubby about it so I went into the bedroom, woke him up and told that that I had to show him something (just like I did when I told him about being pregnant with JJ).  He was still half asleep so it took him a few seconds to register what was going on.  Needless to say he was very happy! We decided to tell our families and closest friends immediately but we wanted to wait awhile before telling JJ.  We knew that once he found out about it that the rest of the world would know! One of the hardest things was keeping it from JJ.  I asked Kelly, a good friend, to take a picture for us to give to our families to announce the pregnancy.  I loved this idea and thought it was such a cute way to tell everyone our news!
It's amazing how difficult it is to find gender neutral baby shoes.  We waited to tell JJ until I was 10 weeks along.  For one, I felt comfortable letting everyone know and for another, my belly was growing and it was getting harder to hide!  It's so true that your belly gets bigger faster after the 1st one. Anywho, I found a cute Big Brother t-shirt for JJ a couple weeks before this and put it on him the night we told him.  I asked him if he knew what his shirt said and then I explained it to him.  We told him that there is a baby in my tummy and that he is going to be a big brother.  He had commented to me several times in the previous weeks that my tummy was getting fat (that was fun) and that maybe there was a baby in there so I don't think he was terribly surprised to find out that there was.  He has since then talked about the baby daily and given my belly lots of hugs and kisses.  I honestly cannot wait to see him be a big brother. 

I am now 13 weeks and 5 days pregnant!  The 2nd trimester got here so quickly!  I admit that I haven't taken any baby belly pics yet and I know that I need to get better at that.  As soon as I found out I was pregnant with JJ and had my first ultrasound (17 weeks 3 days) I took a baby belly pic and did it faithfully every week throughout the entire pregnancy.  I've heard that it's easier not to keep up with it in pregnancies after the first but I'm determined to take one weekly.  Starting now...soon!

Here is a picture from Mother's day.  I was 11 weeks and 6 days pregnant.  See?  I told ya the belly made an early appearance this time.  I don't even want to think about how big I'm going to get.  Ack!

There's so much more to this story.  My visits with Dr. Eli Reshef, fertility specialist (LOVE him!), Femara, and ultrasounds but maybe I'll get to that another time.  I just know that I'm so very blessed to be carrying another sweet baby!

Easter, Mother's Day, and Father's Day

Since I am so behind on my blogging I'm going back and catching up on things I've missed.

Easter family photo.  I love that I was able to find a fun bright color for all of us to wear.


Discovering the goodies in his basket.


Me and my cuddle bug.


Hubby and JJ took me to eat at Red Lobster for Mother's Day.



Praying for our lunch.


JJ with his Daddy on Father's Day.


Looking as handsome as ever!


Crazy boy.  :)


Our little family.

All Things Cupcake

I've been doing some baking but haven't posted anything so this is dedicated to my new favorite thing to bake - cupcakes!  How do you not love cupcakes?  They're yummy and so fun to decorate!

This is a Cinnamon Mocha Cupcake with Whipped Mocha Frosting.  Mmmm!


Grasshopper Fudge Cupcakes.  These are one of my favorites and everyone who has ever had one loves them too!


Churro Cupcakes.  This was a new one for me.  Hubby needed a dessert to take to work for their Cinco de Mayo luncheon.  Love it!


Moist Chocolate Cupcake with a Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting.  So simple but so stinkin yummy!  Always a favorite.


Cherry Almond Vanilla Cupcake.  SO good!  And I love how pretty it is!


So there are my recent cupcake experiences.  I'm sure there will be more in my near future.  I've been on a cupcake craze lately!

Three

Once again, I am late getting things posted.  JJ's birthday was on April 8th and his birthday party was on the 9th.  The theme was Mickey Mouse since that is his current favorite cartoon. April can be an interesting month here in Oklahoma.  It's usually pretty windy and can be rainy as well.  JJ's 1st and 2nd birthday parties were both at a local park.  We were lucky to have good weather on both occasions although it was very windy.  This year I wanted to have it somewhere we could have it inside as well as out.  Our house is too small for a party so we had it at my parents house.  It was perfect!  They live on 1 acre so there was plenty of room for the kids to run and we also were able to keep the food and gifts in the house.  I'm sure we'll be having JJ's 4th birthday party at my parent's house again next year! 

I wanted to have a nice birthday party without spending a fortune so with a little research I was able to make a lot of it.

This is what you saw when you entered the house.  I made Mickey Mouse shaped rice krispie treats on a stick, MM ears for all of the kids, and a MM topiary.  The picture of JJ is one side of his party invitation.


Here's where all the food went.  I made 2 more MM topiaries for decorations and I also made the cupcakes.  The empty space on the table is where the pizza went.


These are the goody bags I sent home with each kid.  Lots of candy inside and MM memorabilia!


A closer pic of the cake.  My friend, Rachael, has made every birthday cake for JJ so far.  She always does such a good job!


A picture of my little bug before the party starts.


2 of the kids wearing the ears I made.


A bounce house we were fortunate to have.  A friend and co-worker of my Dad's allowed us to borrow the bounce house for the day.


My Dad built JJ a sandbox last summer for JJ and it came in handy for the party.  The kids loved it!


Time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles!  This is his embarrassed face.  I love it!



After having cake and cupcakes we went to a local horse farm.  Before seeing the horses we all sat in a room and listened to James Bond (yes, that's his real name!) give the history of the horse farm and tell us what we'll be doing.


Learning how to brush the ponies.


Each child got to ride the pony cart a couple of times.


While some of the kids were riding the cart, the rest of us were petting the horses.


And JJ was running around like a crazy person!


My Mom talking to Oreo.  He was such a sweet horse.


Getting back from a ride.  He had each adult go on a quick ride while he explained how using the reigns on the horses relates to raising children.  It was a very good little talk.
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Time to open presents!  This present is from my parents.


This is from my in-laws.


haha!  Guess he's not so sure about this one.  :)


The end.


At the end of the day we were all exhausted but it was good day!  My sweet boy had a fun, family and friend-filled party and I didn't have to spend a fortune to give it to him!

I still can't believe I have a 3 year old.  I wish he would stop growing.  Just for a little bit.  I miss my baby.

Click here to read about JJ's 2nd birthday party and here to read about JJ turning 1.