Introducing Sweet Potato

We are so excited to announce that Cecilia is going to be A BIG SISTER! We are due May 9, 2011 with baby #2. We will call this baby "Sweet Potato" (sticking with a theme) while they are growing inside my womb. We had our first Ultra Sound this morning. I am 8 weeks pregnant, and feeling it. We were able to see the little one so clearly! We could see the heart beating nice and strong at 169 beats per minute. It was so amazing and beautiful. There is no denying there is a baby in there. We have know about this for about a month now. Yes, this was a planned pregnancy (after all, we are all about Natural Family Planning). We were a bit surprised when we saw results the first month out, but we are ecstatic! This will put Cecilia and Sweet Potato about 21-22 months apart, and only 2 years apart in school. I have been blogging my pregnancy thoughts on the side and will post them soon.

Happy Day!!

Ciao Kitty!

Our beloved(-ish) kitty, Audrey, will take up residence in a new home this week. Jon and I got her when we were newly married and still living downtown. She was the princess then, and has not adjusted well to not being the only dependent. She has especially not been pleasant since about Christmas time when Cecilia started moving around some more. Audrey has shown her dissatisfaction with her rank change by doing typical cat things like peeing on the bathroom mats, and all over the carpet in the basement (GREAT!). A few weeks ago I caught her in Cecilia's crib, with Cecilia in there. That same week, she scratched Cecilia's forehead from her hairline to her eyebrow. That was the last straw.

Fortunately, Audrey has already adopted the sweet elderly couple down the street. She already spends every day with them, and Eva carries her home every night. Right now, we say that Eva and Rex have shared custody of her, but on Tuesday they will have full custody. It feels good to know where the princess is going to be, and that she will be with a grandma and grandpa that will let her be the spoiled princess she is.

Ciao Audrey! Enjoy your new home.

Rules for Dealing with Pregnant Nose

The nausea is here. The heightened sense of smell is here too- goody! I think the smell thing is worse this time around because I still have to do that Mom thing for Cecilia and prepare her meals and change her diaper, and clean the house. I can't just rely on Jon to do all the "smelly" things. So, I've been compiling a list of rules to deal with the smelly part of pregnancy.

1. Only open the refrigerator if you know exactly what you are going in for and where it is.
2. Turn your body at least 1/4 turn away from the stove when cooking. Especially if it is something like scrambled egg for your sweet baby girl.
3. When you notice that your child needs to be changed, its time to bust out the coffee beans, mint, or vicks vapor rub. A wiff of any of those will line your nose for a bit so that you can quickly freshen the little one with out dry heaving on her.
4. Make your husband take out the kitchen trash, diaper pale, and compost daily- whether it needs it or not.
5. If you should go out into public wear Burt's Bees lip balm (I like the tinted stuff), carmex, or some other scented lip stuff. This will help to mask any unpleasant smells you might find along the way- and there are plenty of them.
6. If you are able to make dinner, make double and freeze the rest. There will be nights when the thought of cooking will set off that lovely wave of nausea, so taking that saved chicken pot pie out of the freezer will help tremendously.
   

Thanks for the Cold

Jon shared his cold with me this week. How sweet of him. What a selfless gift for him to give. Normally I would not be writing about a cold. I'm not one to complain about such things. Normally, I would take my beloved Tylenol COLD medicine and go on about my life. BUT, I'm pregnant! That means no Tylenol COLD for me. That means I get to try and feel better with the likes of cough drops, vicks vapor rub, regular Tylenol (who are we kidding!) and extra blankets. Needless to say, I feel like YUCK! At least this time around I don't have to go to work and force myself to stay awake and look productive. I can take naps! I love naps, when I can take them. Like this morning. It was glorious. The falling asleep part can be difficult with a cold, but once I got comfortable enough breathing through my mouth (gross), I was out like a light. Thank you, Cecilia, for taking a nap this morning, so Mommy could nap too.

Picture Day

This is a little delayed (par for the course). We had pictures taken of Cecilia and our family for her 1st birthday by the lovely and talented Kim Shokouhi of Kim Shokouhi Photography at the end of August. I can't believe how much our little girl has grown over the past year! I'm so glad that we had this moment in our lives documented like this. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

Northwest

We headed up to visit some of the Greats last weekend in the Poudre Valley. It is so gorgeous up there! Cecilia was a champ traveler, once again. She had fun playing with Great Papa Jim and Great Grandma Katy. On Saturday, Jon went fishing with Papa Jim, while Grandma and I watched Cecilia play. We also played cards and went for a short walk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and the views were breathtaking. Really, its not a bad deal to get to wake up in such a beautiful part of the world. We enjoyed dinner out on Saturday night before heading back to town. It was so nice to visit with Grandma and Grandpa before they head south for the winter. Thank you for your hospitality and generosity! We love you!

Pregnant

It is finally sinking in and hitting me. I am pregnant with baby number 2. We found out via pee stick on August 31, 2010, and confirmed again on September 3. We have told several close family members, but it really didn't hit me until I had my appointment at the midwives office with Jules. On the way home from I kind of lost it in the car- a happy kind of loosing it. My heart was filled with joy! Jon and I are so excited to welcome this little baby into our family. I think because we have seen Cecilia grow and learn, we are all the more ready and excited for it. I am not nearly as nervous as I was the first time around, and I am also not nearly as overly excited as I was when we found out we were prego the first time. I think it is because this just feels right. It feels like the natural progression that our family is in. May 9ish, 2011 is the date. I am waiting for the nausea to hit me. Last time it hit like a train that never ended for 8+ weeks. They say every pregnancy is different, so I guess I can hope that it won't be as bad this time- HA! Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Since we have been telling family already, and it is so early we know that the word will get out soon. We haven't quite decided when we will make a public announcement, but I think after our first ultrasound on the 28th will be a good time. I'll be 8 weeks then, and I'm sure I'll be in the full chains of nausea. I don't think I'll be able to keep the secret for much longer than that.

Teething Trends

We had the opportunity to spend Labor Day with friends and family at a lake near Frisco over Labor Day weekend. The weather was so incredibly beautiful, and we had a nice relaxing time, despite Cecilia's tooth agenda. She got another tooth in, but it took two nights for it to join the party. It was so rough! I can handle one night of crying baby, constant nursing, rocking and very little sleep. But two in a row just takes it all out of me. I could barely function until the afternoon after night number two. This happened the last time we were in the mountains too- for Pat & Sarah's wedding. I am just praying that she holds off on more teeth until after this weekend when we go to visit my grandparents... in the mountains. I really hope that she is not making a trend of this. We still had a nice time fishing, hiking, and just enjoying the mountains. Also, Stella "learned" how to swim while we were there- more on that later though.