Happy Birthday Ya Ya!

It was Ya Ya's birthday on Monday so we began celebrating over the weekend.  We had secretly invited her best buddy - Mrs. Howie and her husband Mr. Howie to join us for dinner at Outback.  Ya Ya was excited and it was a great evening.  We actually had the waiter snap a picture of all of us!  Notice the huge pregnant woman in front - when I say huge-I not kidding as I am already measuring 40 weeks!  YIKES!

Yesterday after my doctor's appointment, Grady and I spent a quiet day with Ya Ya followed up by dinner and presents.  Happy Birthday Ya!

Ya Ya we love you and are so thankful for everything you do for us!  You're the best! 

Ya Ya needs Stock in Carter's

After Joe's shower on Saturday, I think my mom began to realize that we were having a little girl and she was coming soon.  She had so much fun looking through all of  Lucy's clothes that it inspired her to shop.  

So, after the shower on Saturday, we bundled Grady up and headed off to Carter's.  They were having a HUGE sale, plus an additional 20% off of your purchase of $50 or more (like it was hard to get to $50!)!  According to our 3 foot receipt, Ya Ya saved over $67, which is amazing!

Thanks Ya Ya! You're the best!

Never Again....

will my best friend and I be pregnant together!  This picture was taken Saturday at her 5th and final shower!  Joe is expecting Lucy in just less than 2 weeks (which I can hardly believe) and I am expecting our baby girl in 12 more weeks!  

It was my mom's idea to snap this picture of us and I am so glad we have it, as it marks one more awesome experience we have been able to share.  I am so thankful and blessed to have her as my best friend for the past 17 years!  

Think.....PINK

We are thrilled to announce that BITB is a GIRL!  I must admit I am so excited!  We had our ultrasound this morning.  David and Grady went with me (of course they would not have missed it for the world).  David was having a hard time actually believing that we were going to find out, as we never really did know for sure with Grady. 

It took the Tech almost the entire ultrasound to be able to see what sex of the baby was.  Finally decided to let us in on her little secret.  After the Tech told us, I started to cry.  I am so thankful to have a little boy and now a little girl. She looks great and is measuring right on target.  We have our next appointment in three weeks, and at this point they are not concerned at all!  

David took us to Carter's after the appointment and we picked out two cute outfits for BITB.  A pink sleeper and a cute lime sundress with a pink bug on it!  How fun is it going to be to dress a girl?!  

It's Been Awhile....

Sorry it's been awhile since I have blogged.  I really have no excuse, except that I have a year old little boy and am 18 weeks pregnant.  Does that work?  

We have been busy doing random things.  The Friday after Grady's birthday party, I hosted a baby shower for my best friend Joe.  I was a soup making fool. We had three different soups, salad, fruit, cheese and bread.  It was perfect as it was about 25 degrees that night.  We had a great time and Joe got great things for Lucy!  

I spent the next week trying to recuperate from the shower and get our house back in order.  

Thanksgiving was wonderful.  We spent the day with Ya Ya, Mr. and Mrs. Howie and Tiffany Pendell (who had to stay behind in NY while her family was in Michigan because she had to work on Friday).  The food was wonderful and Grady ate everything that we gave him.  The only thing that we did not give him to try was the brussel sprouts!  (Neither David or I like them, so we decided that Grady did not need to be subjected to them!)

Monday was the first day of our Christmas card photo shoot.  The above picture is my favorite from the shoot.  Unfortunately, as I started to edit the pictures I noticed that Grady still had mac and cheese on his face from lunch and it was even on his onzie!  Argh!  As hard as I tried I could not edit it out, so yesterday we tried again, this time with a different outfit and I got some great shots.  I'll share some of the ones that we did not choose this week.  I'm finding it hard to actually get pictures of him now because he is on the go and so fast!  Photo shoots tend to be 10 minutes and I manage to get about 100-150 pictures in that amount of time--granted only about 20-30 are keepers, but at least I have a lot to choose from.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. Things are looking great with the BITB.  We are just 18 weeks and things are going well.  We go on the 15th for our next ultrasound to find out if it is a boy or a girl.  I am extremely anxious to find out.  I am pretty much half way through the pregnancy.  The doctor said on Monday that as long as everything is going fine and the baby and my body are tolerating the pregnancy they will wait until week 37 to deliver me.  So, that looks to be the week of April 13th.  Which will come fast.  We are anxious to start getting the baby's room ready, but have decided to wait until the new year to start any projects.  

This week will be quiet as we start to get ready for the holidays.  I need to have David bring the Christmas decorations upstairs so I can begin to get things out. I was telling someone that it will be weird, as we did no decorating last year with Grady in NICU.  So, I am sure that it will be interesting to see some of the decorations that I have probably forgotten about!  

For Ya Ya

Today was just beautiful!  The temperature on the truck read 67 degrees!  What great weather for November!  Since it was so nice out, we decided to take advantage of it and squeeze in a small photo shoot.  (I only took 159 pictures!)

After Grady and I were done with his photo shoot, we walked over to the school and voted.  We then headed out and spent the afternoon running errands.  Grady was so cooperative and just chilled as we headed in and out of several stores.  What a challenge it is to put him in the car seat, take him out, put him in the stroller, take him out.  Ugh!  I am exhausted!  

I am starting to feel better.  As we start week 14 I am hoping that we are out of the woods for the 24/7 nausea.   Only time will tell!  But I hope that the worst is behind us!

3+1= Our Happy Family

Yes, that is right!  We are expecting a baby this spring!  We are thrilled to be adding to family and giving Grady a baby brother or sister.  Of course selfishly I am hoping for a girl, but I will take either one as long as they are healthy and FULL TERM! 

We had been trying but nothing had happened so in early September, we had an appointment with our Fertility doctor and we were planning on starting the fertility process in October. Two days later, I was not feeling like myself so I took a pregnancy test and sure enough two pink lines!  I was in shock.  David was at work and it was only Grady and I at home.  The poor little guy, I must have told him 100 times that I was pregnant.  As much as I wanted to call David at work, I wanted to be able to shock him.  So, as hard as it was, I waited until I had to pick him up from work (we had one truck in the shop that day) and I told him to close his eyes.  I was holding two (because one was not enough confirmation) positive pregnancy tests.  When he opened his eyes he was shocked.  He said, "Honey, you're pregnant?" to which I answered "Yes!" He then followed it up by asking, "How did that happen?"  I had to laugh.  After 15 months of battling infertility with Grady, we were both shocked to be able to get Pregnant the "Old Fashion Way".

We have had two doctor's appointments and ultrasounds so far.  I was immediately labeled high risk after everything that happened with Grady.  I am being watched pretty closely, but the Perinatologists have assured me that odds are in our favor for a healthy and normal pregnancy.  I am trying not to worry and believing that they are right.  

I have felt terrible.  Little did I know that I would feel worse with my second one!  I really don't remember feeling this terrible with Grady, but David thinks that it might be because I was working and too busy to realize.  I am 99% sure that I did not feel this way.  I have been nauseous pretty much 24/7 for the past 12 weeks.  I am hoping that it will soon pass.  The doctors have reassured me that the sicker you are the better.  So, I guess that is a good sign.  I am trying to lay low and rest while Grady is sleeping and I have been going to bed around the same time that he goes to bed since I have been exhausted.  

I just wanted to share our wonderful news with everyone, as we have been cautious in not telling many people until we had made it through those first critical weeks.  We will be finding out the sex of the baby, which will happen a bit closer to Christmas.  But until then, David has affectionately named this baby... Baby In The Belly and that is what we will be calling this little one until we find out if it is a he or a she (I have been saying she... maybe it's mother's intuition?).