Summer.

Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer! 

We decided to start even one day sooner than that...

...with little lady's first swimming pool yesterday!

She loves nature. And she's fascinated with sticks, leaves, trees and flowers.

The hose water was pretty chilly.

She loved dipping her hands in the water and watching the drops fall from her hand.

And she told daddy what she thought about her new pool.

She enjoyed the pool more from outside of it.

What's a pool party with out a beach ball!

We certainly enjoyed our day with our little water baby.

I'm a believer!

And I love Jesus!

But this post isn't specifically about that : ] {Just felt like saying it.}

I am a new believer in these though:

I've seen these at the stores but never really paid too much attention to them. They are on the pricey side and I didn't want to risk the money if little lady wouldn't even eat them. Which we have has experience with lately. Especially the green stuff!

The last couple days she's been having digestive issues and has even been in pain and tears just trying to have a bowel movement. We've been trying different ways to get fiber into her diet, ways that she will eat with out a major melt down or fight. 

When I got the Babies'R'Us ad yesterday I was just flipping through out of curiosity and these caught my eye first of all because they have one that is just prunes. So far she won't drink anything but milk, even from a bottle, even though I try to offer it over and over again. So prune juice was out and she doesn't have enough teeth to really chew up a whole prune. I thought these were worth a shot! Being on sale, even better!!

When I got to the store I started looking at all of the options and these stuck out to me because they mix a fruit in with the veggies! Little lady LOVES fruit, I don't think we've found one she doesn't like. : ]

I thought this was genius and there is 3g of dietary fiber in one serving, compared to the prunes only having 1g.

So I grabbed only a couple so we could try them out. 

The next trait that brought me closer to love was that they come in these pouches with a twist top. Genius I tell you! Not only is it travel friendly but you can actually squeeze the amount desired right on to the spoon. That way if she decides she doesn't like it I haven't wasted a jar {since it's pretty much done once the spoon goes from food to mouth to food again} and if she's finished before the food is gone I just put the lid back on and put it in the fridge til next time!

Luckily, she loved it!!! She emptied the entire pouch! I'm hoping this will help her to be more regular and develop her taste and love for veggies in the meantime. : ]

We're having....

...fun trying different gender prediction tests!

Ok, really I'm having the fun with them. I think they are just torturing Brandon. He wants this baby to be a boy so badly, even though he loves his little girl more than life itself. For some reason he has an irrational fear that he can only produce girls. He's so funny.

I really do think I'd be excited with either boy or girl. A girl would be great for practical reasons, but a boy would just be great because, well we haven't had one of those yet!!

And so for another prediction:

Needle or Wedding Ring Gender Prediction Method

This an easy baby gender prediction method to try. Take a pin, needle, or wedding ring and attach it to a thread or strand of hair. Hold the dangling item over mom to be's belly while she is lying down. If the needle or wedding ring swings in a strong circular motion, you will be having a girl. If it moves in a to and fro motion like a pendulum, you will be having a boy.

When I hung my wedding ring over my belly from a piece of thread....


.... it moved in a to and fro motion like a pendulum: That means BOY!!!!

Illustration

I posted a 10 month update for our little lady yesterday but didn't get pictures to go with it until today!

So, for your viewing pleasure:

Clapping!

And this one was just too cute not to post... Better watch out!! ; )

On a pregnancy note, I got a call from my OB's office today. They had gotten my routine blood work from last week back. Everything was good except my thyroid test. It came back high, actually she said it was high for being pregnant {otherwise the results wouldn't be considered high}. 

So what does that actually mean? Good question...

They started me on a thyroid supplement to help with the issue. I also have to be seen by an endocrinologist through the pregnancy and once the baby is born I will most likely be cleared of the treatment.

The great news is that the medication only has one side effect: to make me feel "better" and have more energy! Since the supplement is exactly what my thyroid should be producing it is fine to take while being pregnant and with the results being that I just feel "better" and have more energy, you won't be hearing me complain. 

I learned that without the blood test I probably never would have recognized any symptoms because they are so common with pregnancy any way. The side effects of this thyroid issue are tiredness/feeling sluggish and weight gain. Go figure.

I can say that I have just felt so tired. All the time. I did chop it up to being pregnancy, but I was really hoping to start feeling the 2nd trimester energy boost!! Maybe I will now. Hoping so.

So bottom line, nothing to be concerned about really but something new to me and I'm glad they found it.

Happy Wednesday everyone. :)

10 Months

Sweet baby girl, today you are 10 months.

It's a wonder to me how you could be ten months old already considering it had to have been just a week ago that you spent your days sleeping, eating & pooping.

But that is far from your days now, isn't it...

You are silly and love to play and 'wrestle' with your daddy. I love your adorable laugh and you get a kick out of the silliest things. You think it's so funny to put your finger in our mouth or when we hold you upside down. And you love to make faces at yourself in the mirror, it's so cute.

You still eat jarred baby food, fruit only, mixed with cereal for breakfast. All other foods are table foods. There isn't a table food you've turned down yet! When ever mommy or daddy has food you come right over and hold your mouth open until we give you a bite. :) And you've started gaining an interest drinking from a cup.

More and more you are getting the hang of standing and keeping your balance. Most of the day you are up and then down again, and up again. Of course if there is somewhere you want to go you just get down and crawl, since your so fast and efficient now. :)

You have just learned to wave bye-bye! It's so cute because you do your wave and keep doing it until I say "bye bye" and then you clap for yourself. I love it.

You are such a little smarty pants. Not surprising considering who your daddy is... he's quite the smarty pants too. And he would say that I am pretty smart, cause I married him. I'd have to agree there!

You are still as observant and exploring as you always have been. You study everything you can get your hands on and try to figure it out. You love to pull things out of bags or drawers. You'll empty a clothes basket and when it's contents have all been removed then you lose interest! So silly :)

All of these things describe the little person you are and I can't begin to tell you how much I adore spending my days with you and how much I am enjoying calling you mine. I love you sweet Evalyn. I love you more than you could ever know.

Love,
Mommy

16 weeks

We had our 16 wk appointment last Thursday and it went really well. We got to see our dr from when I was pregnant with E. She just had her first baby in February and has been out on maternity leave for our previous appointments. It was good to see her and I'm excited to be back with her for the rest of this pregnancy.

We heard the heartbeat and it was in the 150's.... so the old wives tale would say that is a Girl heartbeat! Who knows!?

Our next appointment in June will be with our ultrasound! I can't wait to 'see' our little baby bean, wether a he or she we are so excited to meet this baby!!

And now for the belly update :)

Pregnancy Highlights**

How Far Along:  16 weeks

Size of baby:  4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. About the size of an avocado.

  

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  7lbs so far

Maternity Clothes:  I've been wearing dresses and leggings. My regular pants no longer fit. I plan on wearing summer dresses and skirts all summer long!  

Gender:   ??? Going to be surprised!

Movement:  Been feeling flutters!!

Food Cravings:  Pineapple, Taco Bell, Carmel Frappachinos

What I miss:   Not burping every meal the rest of the day. Not needing to eat every two hours.

Sleep:  Vivid dreams most nights.

Symptoms:   Hungry all the time, still sick in the evenings, tired all day.

Best Moment this week:  Feeling flutters for the first time!

What I am looking forward to:  Our ultrasound next month!

{**I got the idea for this from another blog I stumbled across. I liked it so I'm going to be using!}

Gender Prediction #1

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are going to have some fun this pregnancy and try different gender prediction methods to see if we can guess the gender of this baby correctly!

We are opting out of trying to determine the gender at our level II ultrasound that will take place in mid-June.

So without further ado, our first gender prediction comes via Chinese Pregnancy Calendar through the Parents.com website.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's day!

 

I know I did.


 


We went to church this beautiful morning and enjoyed the guest speaker, he was hilarious! After church we went to lunch, yummy Mexican food! Even little lady enjoyed some beans and chicken, and she enjoyed getting it all over her dress... which we took these pics after lunch, so no dress. Later this afternoon we headed up to the mountains to visit family and enjoy delicious food!

Little lady and her Grammy, they enjoyed each other's company most of our visit!

Brandon's brother, Joe, surprised everyone with a visit. He got to meet his niece for the first time!

E loves music!! Every time Uncle Joe could be heard strumming, she was tuned in and captivated. :) We think he's pretty enjoyable to listen to also!

And Mother's Day wouldn't be complete with out including ALL of my children...

This is a little older, since we are almost at 4 months now. We have to take that picture this week :)

Our next appt is on Thursday and I'll be getting all the blood drawn for all the required tests. We have opted out of the genetic testing again so our next ultrasound will be in mid-June, when they will do the level II ultrasound.

At this ultrasound there is a possibility that they could peek and determine the gender of our baby bean. We have made a firm decision to not find out the gender at this time. We are excited to wait it out and be surprised at birth. I'm getting an itch to have some fun though and maybe we will try some different gender predicting tests to see what they say... then we'll see who is right on Birth Day!!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!