9 weeks

This is my best preggo shot so far, I think.  The secret?  Take the pic on Sunday when I’m dressed for church instead of Monday when I usually spend all day in my jammies.  :)  So, for the record, this shot was 8 weeks 6 days.  Although, according to my conception date… 9 weeks.  :)  He he he.

How Your Baby’s Growing (from Baby Center):

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

How far along:  9 weeks

Pregnancy symptoms: tiredness, nausea, cravings, spotting, abdominal discomfort (usually when I stand up)

Sleep: pretty good.  I had so much trouble falling asleep last night – hate that!  I also wake up to visit the ladies’ room a lot during the night

Food Cravings: (this is just today; they change) pancakes, fast food little hamburgers, fries, frozen pizza (cooked)

Measurement: still haven’t gotten the tape measure…

Movement: none yet!  This will apply more later.

Labor signs: ditto above

What I miss: energy, for sure

What I’m looking forward to: 20 weeks for the big ultrasound; going through some maternity clothes.  I LOVE having friends that aren’t currently pregnant but have been!  I have NO summer maternity clothes of my own.  Also looking forward to the end of the nausea faze.  Blech.

Milestone: 9 weeks is when I had my first ultrasound with Joanna; it was also my first doctor’s appointment.  I like that they see us earlier now, even if it’s just the nurse.  I felt so alone and like I didn’t know what I was doing with #1!  I guess that’s not really a milestone, I’m just nostalgic

Thoughts from the Girls: Joanna mostly says she wants a baby brother.  I love that she’s big enough to sort of understand what’s going on.  Natalie is of course totally oblivious.

Gotta love the “sitting on baby sibling” pictures:

 

Some Ducks, The Park, singing, and Enchiladas

We stopped at my mom’s on the way home from school on Tuesday, and we went out to feed the ducks.

This was Natalie’s first time as a big kid. She mostly really loved it.

She has a very silly face here! She kept calling the ducks “puppy! puppy!” It was too cute.

That evening we had our regular enchilada night at Grandma’s.

We go every two weeks, and it’s sooooo yummy! Joanna is definitely a fan.

Friday we met with several friends at the park for playday. It was such a gorgeous day: cool in the shade, warm in the sun, bright, clear – gorgeous!

Logan and Natalie swinging:

Anna was pushing Natalie and Aidan was pushing Logan on the swings. Such good big sibs! Just after I took this picture, Joanna fell on the kid in the orange. Oops.

There was this great big field and little row of hills (for biking, I guess?) that the kids loved playing on. Natalie sitting in the field, watching the big kids. She had a great time walking around everywhere at the park. I LOVE that she is walking!

Joanna is in the middle, in black: Anna and Joanna, with Natalie in the middle. We met this little girl at the park – she loved Natalie!

We had such a great time playing and we all came home so tired! And unfortunately, with a little sun on our faces.

Tonight Joanna put on one of Matt’s t-shirts and said she was going to Women’s Ensemble practice. I guess it’s a choir robe. I just love that kid!

Oh, and last night, I caved and sent Matt out for a hamburger and french fries at 9:30. It hit the spot so perfectly. I just couldn’t concentrate on anything until I got my junk food!

Jessica is craving:

-hamburger
-steak
-french fries
-chips, queso, salsa
-apples
-macaroni and cheese (the terrible Kraft kind)
-chocolate everything
-corn dog
-cherry limade
-Dr. Pepper
-pizza (greasy, delivery pizza)

The only things I've got in the house are apples and of course some assorted chocolate things.
It's taking most of my will power not to go get a burger and fries right now.
My will power is crumbling.

14 Months Old

Natalie...

-walks everywhere. When she falls, she gets right back up to walk some more. She still falls pretty often. She's the most sturdy in bare feet or Robeez, but can walk in all her shoes (even jellies!)

-LOVES to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" all the time. In fact, she often does her little motions for it during other music too. If you haven't watched the video I posted here, you need to DO IT NOW. It's sooooo cute. Other people (who are not her mother) have said so too. :)

-eats a pretty wide range of food but will absolutely refuse anything she just doesn't feel like eating. So there. Her favorites are bread (just about any kind in any form), fruit, spaghetti, and carrots picked out of chicken soup. She will also eat PB&J (yay!), unlike her sister. :(

-is just SO STINKIN' CUTE!

-LOVES riding the plastic rocking horses in the nursery like this one:

I mean, really really loves. There is just pure joy on her face when she's on one. She'll buck herself off one day, but it will have been totally worth it. I’m keeping my eye out for one.

-talks a lot, mostly words I can’t understand yet.

-loves her sister very much, even when Joanna’s beating up on her a little. :)

-Can sign more, all done, water, milk, clean up, please

-can say juice, no, bye bye, hi, and maybe some other things, I can’t remember. I remembered a few: puppy, whee!, thank you, Daddy, Mommy

-wears size 3 diapers, but we’re probably moving to size 4 for night soon.

-is mostly wearing size 12-18 month clothes, especially PJs and dresses. Most her her 9-12 month shirts and pants fit pretty well.

-weighs some kind of amount, I don’t know! I’d like to weigh her; I may turn her carseat around pretty soon if she’s hit 20lbs. She’s still pretty happy rear facing, but I think especially when it gets warmer she’ll be more comfy facing forward.

-is so very very loved by her Momma, Daddy, and big sister (among may others!).

Fun site

I need to pass along the link to this wonderful site I've been enjoying lately. It's www.ohdeedoh.com. It is basically a DIY site, full of children's rooms and gadgets. There are tons of new posts everyday to drool over. I'm loving it. Check it out.

8 Weeks

No real bump yet, but I know it won’t be long!

How Your Baby’s Growing (from Baby Center):

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

How far along:  8 weeks

Pregnancy symptoms: tiredness (very tiredness), nausea, round ligament pain, spotting

Sleep: pretty good!  Except I always want more; I’m such a sleep junkie.

Food Cravings: soups/stews, popcorn, chocolate, fruit – mainly crisp, juicy apples

Measurement: (this one’s new from last week)  I’m planning to measure around the biggest part of my belly, which is a little below my belly button, but I can’t find the measuring tape.  Will update later.  I’m really going to get my mom’s measuring tape this week.  Apparently mine has vanished.

Movement: none yet!  This will apply more later.

Labor signs: ditto above

What I miss: Dr. Pepper, energy

What I’m looking forward to: 20 weeks for the big ultrasound, not that I want the time to fly until then; I just really love having a pronoun to go with Bean.  I think we’ll get to listen to the heartbeat at the appointment in 4 weeks.  LOVE that!

Milestone: Have a box of maternity clothes from Lisa waiting for me to need them!  Also we had our first ultrasound last Friday.  I blogged about it here.  Such a cute little Bean we have!

Thoughts from the Girls: I blogged here about the cute conversation Joanna started about the baby.  She’s pretty concerned about it falling out.  Don’t know where she got that idea.  Maybe she knows something I don’t about how quick labor will be?  :)

Party!

This afternoon we headed over to Bailey’s 3rd birthday party! Joanna and I rode with Lisa and Anna – it was fun! Here is Miss Joanna coming out of the bounce castle. You can see Bailey at the "window" to the right.

Joanna really loved playing in the sand box. Her favorite part was dumping the sand out. I’m thinking we won’t do this at our house.

We had lots of fun! Happy Birthday, Bailey! Back at home, Joanna with some of her princess duds. How cute is she?