18 months!

*this post is a week and a half late...*

Macie, You're so.much.fun.!  Seriously, I couldn't be more excited about being your momma. 
Stats:  At your 18 month check up you were 34 inches tall (96th%).  Only one more inch before you can go on the Gadget Roller Coaster in Toon Town!  Maybe after mamma has your baby sister we can go together.  By then you'll surely be taller than 35 inches!  You were 28.8 Lbs.  (92%). and your head was 86% (I don't remember the measurements).  The doctor said you are the perfect height for your weight and your progress is exactly where it should be.  You probably say around 15-20 words.  Some of your favorites are:

Football!  You went to 9 of 10 of Daddy's games this year.  While they did well, they didn't make it to playoffs, but at least now his reward is more Macie time!  You also met our mascot (we're Brahamas - Bulls to you and me) and I got the CUTEST picture.  Check you out.  You mastered the high five (just barely.)

You are running everywhere, that's nothing new.  You are trying to jump (almost!) and you L.O.V.E to dance.  You move your hands in the air and down again and twirling...you love to twirl. 

You've got the music in you.  You'll sit by momma at the piano and while mommy plays you help her and play a whole bunch too.  After about 15 minutes though you've had it and you want mommy to stop playing and play with you (which I'm only too happy to do).

You are an outdoorsy baby too! (when do I have to stop saying baby? You look like such a little girl!)  You enjoy playing outside and even now that it's cooler (like 60's ... ha!) you still love to go out with your cute jacket on.

We went to the pumpkin patch before halloween.  We even took some pictures with your cousin Logan.

I don't know that he was interested, but it sure was cute.
Other words you say: Up (for both up and down), more, please, No (with a very cute tone.  I don't know how long it will be cute for though), go,go,go (when watching football), and many others.

You are really starting to enjoy books!  Just recently you found the 'No David!' books.  I don't know if your daddy loves them, but you sure do.  I think it's because it's a word you can say.  You enjoy being read to every night before we pray.  In your children's Bible you flip right to the back and just look at Jesus and the little children.  I hope you grow up to love Jesus.  More than anything.

You eat just about anything, but of course from day to day your tastes change and something you liked yesterday you don't like today...but we're dealing with it.  I think Nana would make you just about anything you wanted, but Mommy and Daddy don't want you to be picky, so we just tough it out.

Speaking of toughing it out, you've had multiple time-outs.  You are so fun, and with that comes a strong personality (where did you get that from!?).  You love to stand up on your chair while staring us in the eyes, daring us to do anything.  We give you a warning and if you do it again, you get the naughty stool.  It's too early to tell if it's working, but since you generally cry, we figure it's probably doing something.

Macie, You're a sweetheart, and we love you so much.  I hope you keep growing just as you are and let us love you for a long, long time!

55 Dollars

It's amazing what you can do with 55 dollars...
You can eat a nice meal with your spouse. 
You can fill up a small tank of gas in your car.
You can have your dog groomed.

Or:

You can find out the gender of your baby!

Looks like Macie will be having a sister in March!  I was going to try to wait until our next Dr. Appointment in a few weeks and ask for a gender confirming ultrasound, but yesterday we were gathered with family, and we had lots of stuff to catch up on.  My brother and SIL are moving - they finally sold their house.  We were discussing the holidays, my father being in rehab (which is a good thing), and I just got this overwhelming urge to find the gender.  So I made a joke, "I have half a mind to go to pr.enatal pe.ek and find out the gender".  The whole room (including DH) said "okay!".  So before I knew it people had looked up the phone number on their iphones and I was calling, they said "Come in now", and 55 dollars later, we saw our little girl!

I still mean it when I say that I couldn't be dissapointed.  I just want a healthy baby.  And that's sooooo true.  But golly, I'm excited when I look at all the nice stuff Macie has (bedding, blankets, CLOTHES) and I think that I am grateful that I get to re-use them.  I didn't grow up with a sister, but I always thought it would be fun.  DH said he's going to start a Da.ve Ram.sey enevelope for femine hygene products.  Ha. (holler if you have drinking from the FPU/D.ave Ramsey coolaide!).

So I have been a terrible blogger as of late (what can I say, teaching 4 classes, plus raising an 18 month old (tomorrow she'll be a year and a half!, and being 20 weeks pregnant has taken most of my energy).  If it weren't for daylight savings time I don't know if I would've have even had a moment for this post!

Here is the big sister in her crib.  I love that she looks like she's posing in this picture. 

Ultrasound Appt

So yesterday we had our next OB appointment and I'm pleased to announce, all is well!  I have been asked over and over again, what do you hope it is?  And I say, "I couldn't possibly be disapointed.  I just want a healthy baby."
It looks like that's what I'm getting.  My 2nd trimester bloodwork came back normal, no need for further testing.  The ultrasound tech said everything looked great, she didn't see anything to be concerned about.
Amen!  Praise the Lord!
Oh, and the baby had it's legs crossed and wouldn't budge. 
So no gender identification.
But am I disappointed?  No.  Just happy about baby.  I'm going to assume it's a girl until proven otherwise (I'm thinking since there was no shot of a penis that even with legs crossed, there is a better chance it's a girl).
I think I get another ultrasound in a few more months (I think) and at that point I'll drink a little OJ before the appointment to get some movement. 

But seriously...What a relief.  A healthy baby to this point.  Tomorrow the baby will be 19 weeks.  I'm so getting ready for this to happen.  Or at least I should say that it's becoming more real.  I'm excited and scared, all rolled into one.
Take care ladies!

16 weeks

I don't have a belly shot for you, but I'll try to post one soon.
Yesterday marked week 16 for this pregnancy.  I think it's a boy.  My reason is because at the last appt. the heartbeat was found right away and with Macie, there was always a few tense moments as we were trying to find it.  So I suppose in my head I think that it's difficult to find girl heartbeats and boy heartbeats will be easy to find.  I'll find out on Oct. 24th!  Which is 2 1/2 weeks away, but still rapidly approaching.  That is the next dr. appt.   I'm excited as DH and I are going to take the day off from work so we can both go to the ultrasound.  Hoping for good news.  (and by the way, in terms of gender, I couldn't be dissapointed.  Boy or Girl = gift from God).
I think I'm feeling the baby move, it's nothing regular, but I feel the baby-shuffle every now and then.  Last night I sneezed and then there was definate movement. It was very reassuring.
I just haven't had much time to post with being back at work and raising an (almost) 17 month old, but I'm still reading what you guys are writing.  I decided one of the things I love about being connected on the blogging world is just finding out about traditions in other parts of the country.  With my last post I have been inspired to finally try '5 Guys' as that sounds like a pretty popular place to eat.  I have stopped my quest for burgers (as I finally started to gain weight, and that freaked me out a bit -- probably 3 pounds in 3 weeks...yikes!) but I'll still find a time to try 5 guys with the DH.

That's all for now.  Just checking in, and I hope all is well in the blogosphere.

Checkup and The Great Hamburger Taste Test

Let's start with the OB appt.
Measuring fine, no weight gain, blood pressure great, heartbeat found quickly. 

That probably took me longer to type than the time I spent with the dr.  I'm not really complaining, because if I spent more time with her, something would probably be wrong.  But I'm pleased.  Especially that we found the heartbeat after just a few moments.  I'm hoping and praying for a posterier placenta this time instead of anterior (where you don't feel the baby for a lot longer, and it's more difficult to find the heartbeat with the doppler).

On to more delicious things:

The Great Hamburger Taste Test  (If I could make that echo, I would.  'aste test, 'aste test, etc....)
I'm only admitting this because I haven't gained any weight so far.  (Actually, I think I'm up a pound, but I wore jeans to the first appt. and I had a light skirt on today).  BUT, I don't know if I would call is a craving, but in the last 5 weeks, I have been after hamburgers.  I suppose it's a craving.  It just sounded so good, all.the.time.  And I was dieting all of spring, and even when I'm not dieting, I usually get a chicken burger or salad if we have to go fast food. 

So I've decided to share what I've learned about fast food.  You're welcome.

So maybe I just gave myself permission, but it started with Jack in the Bo.x.  I really wanted an Ultimate Cheeseburger (which has 26 weight wa.tcher points, more than I'm allowed in a day).  I planned my week, and I finally went for it.  It was delicous.  It made my mouth water.  Pros - two patties of meat.  And mayo!  Where have you been all my dieting life!  Cons - no lettuce, tomato, or anything designed to make me feel even a little bit healthy.  Also, upgraded to the curly fries, and only had a few.  Tasted like they had been made the day before. 

Then the next time I was on my own for lunch, I hit up Burger Kin.g.  Their burger is the Who.pper.  It was good.  Not great, but good.  It had a good amount of veggies and stuff, but nothing about the burger was amazing or memorable.  The fries were also satisfactory.  Overall, a very satisfactory experience, but nothing noteworthy.

My next adventure was to Carl.s Jr.  I think in other states it goes by Har.dee's.  This burger was amazing.  I must say, I knew enough to order it without onions (I don't hate onions, but raw onions can sometimes be overwhelming).  The burger tasted as close to a barbequed burger as I found.  There was a good amount of greenery on the burger and ultimatly the patty was delicious.  By far, this was the best tasting burger I had.  AND, pair with it with fries that were hot and fresh, this was the winner.

BUT, I wasn't done yet.  I didn't know it was downhill from here.  Now, if you live in Southern California (soon expanding everywhere), then you know In n Ou.t.  (and I didn't try 5 guys, those just came to so. cal.  Anyone have any experience with them?  Should I continue my taste test and try them?).  So at In n Out, DH actually joined me on this challenged.  I decided to try a double double because in my life, I never had before, and heck, at this point, I'll probably never be so open about my red meat consumption, so I went for it.  It was good.  Really good.  Probably second place.  But it just didn't have the heartiness that I was craving.  The fries are also hit or miss for me.  They're made fresh (you watch the guys cut the potatoes) and sometimes they're just 'off'.  It was an 'off' day for me.  Maybe on another day this would beat Carl.s Jr., but not today.  Overall, this was the best value though.  Most food, least money.  Delicious.

And I suppose I should share my opinion of the worst.  This was the only place I had to drive a little bit out of my way in order try.    
THe burger patty was practically falling apart, even in the bun, and the pickels tasted too sweet.  Maybe they were the bread and butter kind instead of the dill that I am used to on a burger, but I didn't love it.  The fries were 'eh', and it just didn't mesh.  Not memorable, not gonna eat that particular burger again (I would go back, just try something else).

And then that leads to today.  I thought I was done, but as I was on my way to my OB appointment, I had some extra time to kill and lunch to eat, so I thought I'd try So.nic.  I didn't grow up eating sonic, there's only 3 within a 100 mile radious of my house that I know of, but a new one is not too far from my dr. office.  So I went for it.  I tried a regular soni.c burger combo with tots and a vanilla die.t coke (I am allowing myself one diet coke per day while pregnant.  I've given up coffee in order to do this).  Well, the Vanilla diet coke was amazing.  The burger was fine.  Probably as good as the who.pper from Bur.ger king.  But the tots were a nice salty side dish.  This would rank in the middle.

This concludes my five weeks of burger tasting.  Are you grossed out by the red meat or are you thinking, "how could I do this in MY town?!" 
I'd love to know your thoughts.  Did I miss any places?  Even if they're regional to your city, I'm always looking for the next burger (by always I mean since the past 5 weeks have led me towards burgers).

Final thoughts:
Every single place except In. N Out asked me if I wanted to 'go medium', or 'go large'.  I always said no (I'm pregnant not rediculous) and every time I didn't finish all the food.  This mindset of paying 40 cents more for 500 more calories is a problem in America.  We don't need, and we need to stop offering it.

When I share this experiment with friends IRL, I ask what they think my favorite was, and every time people have said Carl's J.r.  Apparently I've been missing out for a few years by just eating chicken burgers.  Everyone else seemed ot know that CJ's burgers are better.  And now I have proof to agree.

Just Truckin' Along...

Did I mention it's football season?

Our next Dr. appointment is this Thursday.  I'm excited and of course nervous.  I'm just anxious to hear that little heartbeat again.  I'm hoping we'll schedule the big ultrasound, as tomorrow I'll be 14 weeks.  This is getting exciting.  This morning as I was laying on the bed (ignoring the need to actually get OUT of bed) I was feeling my abdomen and I really can tell that the uterus is growing.  (I hope that's not too gross).  Under my belly button is much more firm.  I'm not showing all that much when standing, (hence no pictures) but I'm pretty fired up to see how this pregnancy looks compared to the last.
AND,
I was all excited because I hadn't gained any weight...until this week.  Ha.  I seem to be up 2 pounds.  I haven't been eating very well, and I suppose that will catch up with you sooner or later, so now I'm back to watching it again.  Not starving myself, just watching what I'm putting into my mouth.

And, as an adendum to the last post, I think Macie may have figured out this whole 1 nap thing.  Tomorrow would be one week of taking one nap from about noon until 2:30 or 3 every day.  The problem is we started Bible study last night and we kept her up until about 9:30, so we'll see how the sitter does with her today, but I'm hopeful she may have transistioned to one nap (we've been working on this for almost 3 months).  When did your little ones successfully go from two naps to one?

16 months!

Well, our Miss Macie is 16 months old (on the 7th) and it's time to update about how she's growing!
Macie, at 16 months you:

Love Brushing your teeth! (and momma loves that Dadda does this with you most nights after you drink your milk)

Say Momma, Dadda, touch, moon, and a whole bunch of other words.  Dee Dee Dow is an expression you use all.the.time.  You're daddy and I don't know what it means, but we think it's awful cute.

You finally have enough hair (and momma has enough skills) for pigtails.  You don't always leave them in, but they are super cute!  You haven't had a haircut, but I'm contemplating having it cut just to even some parts out.  We'll have to see about that.

Love reading Goodnight moon (at all times of the day).  You love to say "hush" with the old lady who was whispering hush. 

You have watched a baby genious DVD that has songs on it, and you will be in the middle of the grocery store or ta.rget and start doing the tune of 'the whe.els on the bus'.  I really hope you love music as much as your momma.  And especially that you love Praising Jesus as much as your parents.

Naps are hard.  You take one good nap, and usually get really, really cranky around 5 pm.  Just late enough that we don't want you to take a nap, but just early enough that 3 hours to bedtime is really rough.  Last night you gave daddy a run for his money while momma was at a church meeting.  We're hoping in the next few months (weeks, days maybe!) to get the one nap to 3 hours or so, so that you'll just be content with one nap.  It's not like one day they need two naps and the next day it's one.  It's been about 3 months of transition so far.  Boo.

Also, discipline is getting more complicated.  We haven't spanked you, but you don't seem to mind the 'clap. growl' (dr. karp) or timeout.  You're just pretty go with the flow when you are in trouble.  Sounds like trouble for mama!

You got sick almost a month and a half ago.  It was scary, you actually had a fever that got up to 105!  The after hours care was less concerned with your temperature because you were still behaving okay.  But geez, don't scare us like that again!  It turned out to just be something viral that only lasted about 48 hours (and your temp wasn't that high the whole time), but it was awful.  No more sickness!

You just cut your 15th tooth.  Just missing one incisor and your back four molars.  Pretty good I'd say.

You are a GOOD eater.  You still eat veggies without complaint.  The only trick is to give you the food in order.  Veggies first, main course, then fruit.  You would eat fruit all the live long day if we let you.  Not that it's bad, just that we want you to get all the nourishment you need!

You help daddy make breakfast. 

Generally Macie, you are one of the sweetest kids I've ever met.  You aren't perfect, but you sure are fun.  If your little sibling is as fun as you, we're going to have a good time in the future!