It's finally here!

Finally!  After 9 days of waiting (due to the snow storm) my package from Kohl's was delivered ~ and it contains some of the cutest summer clothes for my girls :)

L to R: hospital outfits & big sister shirt for Harper, princess outfits for Harper's birthday party, 2 matching outfits for this summer!

My "bee" obsession!   More details in a blog coming soon!

Silly Harper!

There Was A Crazy Lady Who......

You know the book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly?  It goes something like....."she swallowed the cow to catch the goat, she swallowed the goat to catch the dog, she swallowed the dog to catch the cat....."  Well I kind of feel like that right now as we try to prepare the nursery.

Except my version would go something like.....There was a crazy lady who.....sold the piano to make room for a futon, bought a futon to get rid of the bed, got rid of the bed to make room for the crib......

Explanation: Because we only have 3 bedrooms, we are converting our "guest bedroom" into the nursery, which leaves us without a place for our guests.  We have 4 couches in our house but also wanted to get a futon for our "toy room/computer room/sun room" if guests would actually prefer more of a bed and room with a door on it.  But before we could buy a futon we needed to make room for it by getting rid of our piano.  We have been trying to get rid of our piano for YEARS and it finally happened at the perfect time!

Our next (and final) phase/expense is to get a few new dressers for our bedroom so we can clear out the closet in the nursery.  Adam and I have been sharing 1 dresser and closet for the past 3 years!  Which is kind of crazy if you think about it because most married couples each have their own dresser.  Our closet has lots of storage/shelving so I am going to take over the entire closet and Adam will use the 2 dressers.

The nursery is underway ~ it has been painted and we will finish up the trim this week.  We are sticking with the ABC/123 gender neutral theme that we used with Harper - with red being the accent color.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post in a few weeks!

Terrain

Now that we are a dual-income family, it was time to invest in a trust-worthy family vehicle.  We previously had a 2002 Trailblazer and it got TERRIBLE gas mileage.  We knew we wanted another SUV with another child on the way so we did our research and fell in love with the GMC Terrain.

 {We debated on whether or not to get a SUV with 3rd row seating, but with two small children in car seats, it really isn't a realistic/purposeful option - meaning you can't get to the 3rd row with out putting the 2nd row down first - which we wouldn't be able to without removing the car seat first - too much of a hassle, especially since we wouldn't really need the 3rd row at this point}

We purchased the Terrain back in December, it only had 100 miles on it - very scary driving it off the lot.  It is the first brand new vehicle that I have owned.  Not sure we needed a NEW one, but we were on a time crunch because our Trailblazer was deteriorating QUICKLY!  This vehicle is going to be in our family for a very.long.time.    

Our Terrain is black, similar to this

4 more months???

Baby Girl #2 will be here in only 4 more months...or less!  

Although my due date is June 24, my repeat c-section will be no later than June 17th.  I'm not quite sure the reasoning behind the date, but my OBGYN performs his c-sections at 39 weeks, or sooner if necessary.

Unless I go into labor before June 17th, I'm quite positive that the 17th will be Baby's Birthday, it's on a Monday...an ideal day for a c-section, as it's not in the middle of the week or on a weekend.

I went into labor with Harper at 38.5 weeks, so we'll see what kind of excitement this pregnancy brings.  Although my doc wants me to have a c-section, I am not required to have one.  As long as I go into labor on my own before the 17th and no complications arise, I'm okay to deliver vaginally.  So, we'll see.  I have my reservations about both routes of delivery.  (Post about this in the future)

And here's Adam's excitement ~ IF I have to have another c-section, Adam gets to cut the cord!  Sounds cheesy, I know - but he didn't get to do that with Harper and he was really bummed about it.  It must be a sentimental father thing that daddy's look forward to doing.  He asked our doctor about it at our last appointment and he said it'd be no problem.  This news really made Adam excited ~ which of course makes me emotional that cutting the cord means so much to him.

Hurry Up, June!!!!

PS - Sorry for all the pregnancy-related posts, but there's really not anything else blog-worthy going on in our lives right now.  It's nearing the end of winter, which is always long and boring.  

Crockpot Potato Soup

You know me, I only make a recipe if it's super easy and super tasty....this is a new favorite!

Crockpot Potato Soup

Ingredients:
32 oz tater tots
1 lb cubed ham
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 C milk
8 oz sour cream

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a crockpot.  Cook on high for 4 hrs OR on low for 6-8 hours.

**This soup gets really thick, so I added an extra 1-2 cups of milk before serving.  Also, my crockpot cooks a little warmer than most, so 4 hours on low was just enough for me.

(Mom & June- this is on page 32 in the cookbook that I gave you)

Gender Party Details

Our Gender Reveal Party was last Sunday, and let me tell you...it was so much fun...and so much fun to plan!  My inspiration and theme for the party was "Bow Tie or Bow."  (Thank you Pinterest!)

In addition to the Bow Tie/Bows, the color scheme was red and blue with polka dots

Adam and I didn't even know what the gender of Baby #2 was until the day of the party.  We had our sonographer fill out a card that we created to indicate the gender.  It was SO hard to wait an extra 5 days to find out if we were having a boy or girl.  Although I had a pretty good idea that it was a girl after seeing our baby on the ultrasound.

20 weeks + 6 days ~ holding "the" envelope!

Sticking with the blue/red theme, I made tissue paper pom-pom's.  (Again, thank you pinterest.)  They are cheap, easy and a cute way to add decoration to a party.

I also tried to stick with red/blue foods:  We had red/blue cupcakes, blue tortilla chips with salsa, fruit pizza cups topped with strawberries/blueberries, and ranch 'rooms.

 

 

We also had a name scramble of our favorite baby names, boy and girl.  We did not give any hints and won't reveal names until Baby is here!  After we opened the envelope and found out we are having another GIRL, we did give everyone the answers to the boy names.  A few of our favorites are: Piercen, Sawyer, Easton & Holden.  PS - I THINK Baby Girl has a name now!!!!

On the invitation, we asked that everyone wore red or blue, depending on what they thought Baby #2 was.  It was a lot of fun to see every one's guesses.

 

Before the big reveal, we played an Old Wives Tale Prediction game.  I looked through a big list of old wives tales and found the ones that I could answer at this point in the pregnancy.  A red bow indicated a girl, and a blue bow tie indicated a boy.  As you can see, the result was 8 for a girl and 5 for a boy.  Girl wins!

And the big reveal.....our sonographer filled out this card the day of the ultrasound.  She sealed it up before we left and we managed not to peek at it for 5 days!  Harper opened up the card and told everyone what was circled.  (I'm hoping to post a video of this soon.)

Again, the party was so much fun!  Having a small get together and finding out the gender together was much more exciting (in my opinion) than calling everyone and giving the news over the phone.  The main reason that I had a Gender Reveal Party was because I wanted to see every one's reactions to the gender.  When Harper was born I had to have a c-section at 11 PM and by the time I got back to my room everyone (except my mom) had gone home.  Adam got to wheel Harper into my room and announce the gender to every one and got to receive all the hugs and see all the tears and smiles.  I wanted to be a part of that so bad.  (Although I do have pictures of everyone seeing/holding Harper for the 1st time)  So I guess this was my little way of re-creating this type of environment.  

20 Week Update

20 weeks down - 20 to go!  It's hard to believe that we are 1/2 way home to meeting our future family member!

Size of Baby: 10" (head to heel) and 10 oz (size of banana)

     **Baby #2 weighed 12 oz at our 20 week  ultrasound (Harper weighed 11 0z at 20 wks)

Total weight gain: 2 lbs

Maternity Clothes: Little bit of both ~ maternity jeans mostly

Gender: The sonographer was able to identify the gender (and I think I did too) - we will find out on SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!

Movement: Just a few days after my 16-week update I felt movement for the first time.  The kicks are getting stronger and more frequent every day..and I love every minute of it.  Some of them are able to be felt from the outside now.  I can't wait until they're strong enough for Adam and Harper to experience them too.

Sleep: It depends - sometimes I can't get enough and other times I toss and turn all night (I've been up at 4:30 for the day twice this week!)

What I miss: nothing!

Symptoms: Hello pitting edema! The swelling in my lower legs/ankles has started already - but usually only during work. 

Cravings: skim milk, Chinese food, orange juice

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing the baby again during our ultrasound

Looking Forward To: Our gender reveal party in 3 more days!!!!  I can't wait to see what color everyone will choose to wear!

Harper showing the baby some love at 20 weeks!

Our 20-week ultrasound went great!  The baby looked healthy and measuring right on track!  I drank some orange juice right before the ultrasound to make sure the baby wouldn't be sleeping with it's legs crossed or something, and the baby was super active!  It was hard to get good pictures because the baby would move and they'd turn out blurry.  The heart looked great, beating 150 beats/minute, and we watched the blood flow through all 4 chambers and the aortic arch (for you, Ashley!)

Top: arm/hand/fingers
Bottom: profile @ 20 weeks

Our countdown chain until our party!