25 Weeks + CHRISTMAS!!!

25 weeks is here- I quizzed Paul the other morning while we were getting ready to see if he knew how far along I was and his guess was 3 weeks off. I was slightly disappointed for a split second but realized I even have a hard time keeping track of what week, let alone day, I'm at in pregnancy. It was also a good time to remind him of our to-do list of things that need to happen before baby #2 makes her entrance into the world :) Feeling good still, with a minor slip up- decided to take all my prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach first thing in the morning last week, and they ALL came back up after showering- including the fish oil and garlic. Haven't had that happen in a long time... Think I'll just stick with taking them at night.

Hope you had a WONDERful time celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, with your family, friends and loved ones. Christmas was more special this year because we had the opportunity to "re-live" it through the eyes of a two-and-a-half year old. This post may be better captured through pictures rather than words and I know it will be fun to look at this next year when we're gearing up to celebrate Christmas again. A highlight this year was talking to Sophia about the big birthday party we were having at our house for Jesus with a cake, candles, dinner, family, presents...! We sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus" all day!We're making new traditions and carrying on others...

We did some Christmas shopping @ the Galleria--stopped at People's Organic for a special gingerbread man treat...

Paul + I took Sophia to the 8th Floor Macy's display after music class last Friday. She absolutely  loved it!

Excited to meet Santa for the 1st time ever--!

She told him she wanted "a purple present".

 Out to lunch with Daddy afterwards...

Making cookies for Santa...

 

 

 

Paul + Sophia were part of an "impromptu" Christmas pageant at church on December 23rd.  

Sophia was a little lamb, Paul was a shepherd. She was fearless and loved playing a part in the story- Luke 2:1-20!

Ringing bells again- same place at last year- Macy's @ Ridgdedale

Christmas Eve with Papa!!!

...and Mama!!

Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus with her two very special aunts and cousin!!

Another exciting part of Christmas was the surprise of Santa coming to our house- he brought a pretty cool new car and baby bear hat...!

Hope your celebration of the birth of our Lord and King was special and memorable too! Here's to a happy, healthy, NEW year! Looking forward to the many exciting things the Lord has in store for us as we grow to FOUR. Wow. Blessings!

24 Weeks

Another week has flown by! Did I mention that the 2nd pregnancy has gone by so much faster?! It's amazing how one day turns into the next and then a week goes by and it only feels like a day. I am enjoying every day of this pregnancy and trying to take it all in because it's flying by! By the way, I don't think I mentioned this before, but I have three close friends that are also expecting! (One expecting her 2nd, one her 3rd and one her 4th!) It is so great to have that support and prayer system to journey through the ever-changing pregnancy high's and low's together. It is a gift!

The last prenatal visit went very well- we chatted about the results of the ultrasound- everything looked good and baby is in the 52nd percentile for her size and weight at this gestation. All things looked great from the ultrasound including brain, heart, amniotic fluid, etc... We discussed the dairy sensitivity, and it actually is pretty much no longer any issue, praise the Lord! The next prenatal in January will include blood draws for gestational diabetes. This time around, I have to fast for 10 hours and then go in the next morning to drink the sugary beverage and wait 1 hour to have blood drawn. I'm planning on working on bible study while waiting in between the bloodwork, and Paul is going to take Sophia to music class that morning!

In other news, we are preparing for Christmas! Last Friday, my mom, sister and sister in law all got together to spend a day baking Christmas cookies and treats. It has become a tradition that we started a couple years ago and we look forward to every year! We each bring ingredients for 2 recipes and make a huge mess and have fun. We made chocolate peanut butter cups, nut/ seed bars with chocolate topping, gluten-free almond thumbprint cookies, peanut butter blossoms, chex mix, gluten free banana bread with walnuts, fudge, and wreaths with M&M's. While the cousins were playing, we were baking away in Santa's workshop in our elf hats and red/ white aprons courtesy of Suzy and Katie! It was such a fun day and I just treasure that time together. It is such a joy!

We quadrupled each recipe to send everyone home with lots of goodies to share!

Glamma's little helper making the thumbprint cookies :)

The cousins!!! Sophia (2 1/2) Emmett (9 months) Ethan (19 months)

After church this morning, we spent the afternoon with Paul's parents, sister and great, great aunt celebrating Christmas a little early. We had a wonderful time relaxing and in fellowship. His great, great aunt is 97 years old and shared some of her favorites Christmas memories and traditions. We concluded our time singing several Christmas Carols: Away in the Manger, Joy to the World, O Holy Night, O Come O Come Emmanuel, Angels We Have Heard on High and I Saw Three Ships. It was a special time and loved that it really set our hearts in the Christmas spirit!

We're excited to continue our family tradition of bell-ringing for the Salvation Army and will ring on Christmas Eve at the Ridgedale Macy's in the morning. We were tuckered out and went home and immediately got into our pajamas and spent the rest of the day relaxing fireside. It was a still quiet evening and end to the week. Beyond thankful for a day such as this :-) We are blessed.

22 Weeks... and counting!

 Overall, the pregnancy is status- quo and things are continuing to go really good, thankfully! In the last two weeks, however, I've developed a dairy sensitivity to cow's milk, cow's cheese, and cream. It all started when I noticed some red dots on my stomach, right over baby bump- which because itchy and irritating to the point where I decided this was something food-gut related if it was showing up on my skin. The wonderful Meg muscle tested me at Rev for a food sensitivity that might be causing this reaction. She tried all sorts of foods, because originally I thought it may have been from our Thanksgiving meal where we ate a ton of food we don't normally eat, however not the case. Turned out to be cow's dairy- I'm off all cheese and cream. Which actually isn't hard at all because I don't really drink milk to begin with and am substituting cream for soy milk and coconut milk and regular cow cheese for goat cheese. I've also been taking activated charcoal to bind the toxins out and a weed botanical (Usnea Lichen) to get rid of the associated mild blood infection it caused. I can see a difference already as the red spots have pretty much completely diminished. The hard part about this sensitivity is that it came right in between the holidays, so I can't indulge in the heavy whipping cream with coffee and pie like I was hoping to :-) But thankfully there are a lot of wonderful alternatives!

Thanksgiving in Taylors Falls- enjoying the Lighting Festival!

Activity wise- still going on the usual LTF journey 1-2x/ week. I'm hoping to try a prenatal yoga class in January, after Christmas is over to get into the swing of that on an occasional basis. I'm also hoping Paul and I can register for Hypnobirthing at Blooma or take a refresher course. I've been listening to Rainbow Relaxation every night and it has brought me back to some good times and memories! For anyone who has listened to that CD, you will understand :)

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little more tired these last couple weeks- I don't know if it's because it's the holidays and a busy time of the year that would make anyone tired- or if my body is just wanting extra sleep. Two naps this past weekend were splendid and I'm thankful I was able to lay down without feeling guilty like I should be getting other things done. I am one to struggle with listening to my body on when to slow down and rest, I'm usually pushing to the max.

We're slowly but surely starting to gear up for baby-- Paul finished a project he started last month of storage racking in the lower level to make room for me to move my office downstairs in with his. We'll be using what was my office for the nursery and need to start furnishing, unpacking the baby gear, and decorating to make it into a bedroom. The girls rooms will be just 2 doors away from each other, making it super convenient.

We're thinking of names and have our favorite, but we're not 100% sure on it quite yet. Still praying about that since it's a very big decision and would love some confirmation in our Spirit about it. The next prenatal visit happens this upcoming Tuesday afternoon- just a routine appointment and will go over the findings of the ultrasound. Will definitely update on any highlights!

On a side note, Sophia's finger is completely fine now but she does tell me everyday that "a door closed on my finger and it hurt...but it's just fine now!" She also loves giving the baby kisses, hugs- and even tried to share her hot cocoa with her today after sledding! It's pretty cute. We are excited to see her as a "big sis"!

Our little powder pink puffin- she LOVES snow!!!

Sledding fun in our backyard- can you tell who is having more fun?!

Capturing the moment with a 'Bou in hand :)