24 weeks

How far along: 24 weeks

Size of Baby: eggplant

Total weight gain: +19.9

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Wouldn't you know that once I post it's great (last week), it wasn't so great this week? I just wake up and can't go back to sleep for a long time.

Best moment this week: Seeing those little pokes through my skin.

Movement: His movement is a lot different than Zooey's was. She stuck pretty much to the side, head down, for most of my pregnancy, and most of her  movement was right in the middle of my belly. Tennyson must still be laying transverse, because I feel him on both sides of my belly as well as low.

Food cravings: ice cream, banana bread

What I miss: Bending over to pick up things.

What I am looking forward to: Getting his nursery set up

Weekly Wisdom: Things are easier the second time; you won't be as stressed, because you know what to expect and how to troubleshoot.

Milestones: Tennyson reached viability this week! His lungs are starting to produce  surfactant, he's getting hair on his head and he's pinking up a bit.

Labor signs: I started having some Braxton hicks contractions this week.

23 weeks 1 day

Total weight gain: +18.9

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Good. I seriously conk out most nights, wake up in the middle of the night and drag myself to pee, then conk back out until Zooey wakes up.

Best moment this week: Picking a spelling for the little guy's name. Actually, we let Zooey finally settle the debate. She picked the same piece of paper twice. Drumroll please....the baby's name is Tennyson! Still no decision on a middle name, but we're getting close.

Movement: Tennyson moves like crazy! And he kicks my bladder a lot.

Food cravings: watermelon, asparagus

Gender: It's a boy!

What I miss: Nothing too much yet.

What I am looking forward to: Getting his nursery done.

Milestones: His hearing is becoming more keen, & the cochlea is fully formed (hopefully he'll enjoy that Taylor Swift concert next weekend - woohoo!). He's big enough that I can see his movement through my clothes. Taste buds have formed, but he can't taste anything quite yet. Most of his little organs are now in place and beginning to function well.



Tennyson,23 weeks

And for comparison, here's my post when Zooey was 23 weeks. :)

22 weeks

How far along: 22 weeks

Size of Baby: roughly 1 lb. and about 11 inches

Total weight gain: +17 lbs.

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Good.

Best moment this week: Picking a name for Baby this morning - but spelling & middle names are not finalized, so we're not sharing yet (with anyone - sorry!). :) I also completed a small registry, which was fun.

Movement: Lots - he's a mover! This morning, I think he must've been transverse, because I was feeling little pokes on both sides.

Food cravings: watermelon

Gender: Boy!

What I miss: Starting to miss being able to fully bend over.

What I am looking forward to: Decorating the nursery.

Weekly Wisdom: Kinda not for pregnancy, but I heard a quote this week, and I really liked it, "No one tells you being a mommy means saying sorry as much as you expect them to say it." God's been working on me being humble with Zooey and admitting when I do wrong. My prayer is to obviously do that with this baby, too.

Milestones: Baby's pancreas is developing, his heartbeat could now be heard with a stethoscope, he's taking on the shape and size of a small doll & is looking more and more like a miniature newborn.

Labor signs: Nope.

Baby Boy, 22 weeks

April

Oh my! I am learning what it is like to live with a three and a half year old! I think this is the "hard" stage my mom referred to at three. It is also SO much fun! Zooey has so much excitement about everything, and as she's saying more every day and is understood more and more, it is a lot of fun to be able to communicate and hear her thoughts on things. I love how carefree she is about everything she enjoys. She dives in and enjoys with full abandon - whether it's ice cream, babies, animals or art, she loses herself in it. It's so neat to see how little kids are able to do that. There's no fear over what others think, no need to be perfect, she just exists in the moment and loves new experiences (for the most part). There's something to learn from three year olds in that way. As you'll see from her love of babies, Zooey is a very affectionate, empathetic child. She is moved to try to comfort people, big and small, who are sad. God has given her such a loving, sensitive little heart.

Zooey loves:
- Watering flowers
- Playing with water, be it the watering can, the hose, in the tub, and especially in her new pool
- Babies! During group hymn time at BSF, she was more excited to see and hug & kiss the baby than she was to sing. She is very gentle most of the time, and always tries to tell the babies who are crying that "it's ok" while giving them hugs.
- Music. She is starting to enjoy dancing a lot. She loves to hear her BSF hymns sung to her at bedtime.
- Peter Pan. She is obsessed with Peter Pan. And Captain Hook. And Jake & the Neverland Pirates. At this rate, we will be having a pirate themed birthday party. Which leads me to her other obsession...
- Birthday parties. We went to about three this month, and she loves to sing "Happy Birthday to you Peter Pan" and make cakes now. She loves to pretend birthday and says it's Peter Pan's birthday every day.

Zooey's become very curious this last month. She wrote on the floor and her wall with a dry erase marker, then tried to erase the wall (BTW - if anyone knows how to completely remove dry erase stains from the wall and the carpet, please let me know!). She filled up a toy cup with toothpaste one day and said it was paint. She also poured a bunch of shampoo into one of her bath cups to try to make bubbles.

Some funny things she said:
- "Like your hair Mommy!" I said, "Thanks!" "Like your boobs Mommy!" I said, "That's a little silly." Oh my! This was right after Gideon was born and she saw him nursing at Sarah's house.
- At dinner one night she kept saying, "That's my a-hole." I finally figured out she was trying to say ankle.

Snuggling up with me when I wasn't feeling good one day.

Splashing in her new pool.

Out for a dinner date with Mommy.

Zooey and her beloved flowers.

A trip to Target in Cinderella apparel.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day Brunch

Today was a wonderful Mother's Day. Ryan took Zooey and I out to brunch at Le Peep, I took a nice long nap, we went over to Sarah & Rey's for dinner and finished up the day with Menchie's. Zooey made me four beautiful Mother's Day cards this week at her various activities, all of which I love and will treasure. At brunch she said, "Happy Mommy's Day! Love you so much!" and gave me a kiss. It was very sweet.
I've been seeing a lot of these "before I was a mom" posts on the internet. They're all so great and ring so true. I've been thinking a lot about how I personally have grown in my knowledge of God's love since becoming a mother. Lately, with a three and a half year old who very much seems to like to push my buttons or merely gets into trouble out of her own curiosity, I find myself muttering, "When are you ever going to stop that?" or "What on earth would possess her to do that?" I've also been stopping short halfway through those comments, because I feel like God's nudging my heart ever so gently, "Amber, when are you going to stop being unkind to that person?" "Amber, you know my Word says not to do ____ , yet you did it. Why?" And it's truly not a "guilt trip" God-voice. It is spoken gently, as a reminder that I am a foolish, faulty human being, desperately broken and in desperate need of a Savior who loves me despite all the foolish, faulty, sinful things I do on a daily - nay, an hourly or even minute by minute basis. My love for Zooey is not shaken when she hits me or calls me a bad boy or pours water all over the bathroom floor. In fact, in some of the quirky not so naughty stuff, it just makes me (eventually) laugh with her and love her more. I stand in awe of a King who continues to love me time and again...when I say the ugly thing for the thousandth time, when I tell a little white lie and justify it in my own way, when I mess up again with "that sin," the one I currently struggle to tackle by His grace. How? How can He possibly continue to love me? Because I'm His daughter. Pure and simple: God loves me, because I'm His child. Nothing will shake His love for me. Of course He moves us on a course of sanctification, which is why we must face discipline, just like our kids...we don't want them hitting people and calling them names when they're thirty. And that's a whole other topic. Thank God, though, for His unconditional, unfailing, beautiful, tender and compassionate Fatherly love!

Happy Mother's Day! May us mamas remember as we are in the daily grind that we serve a God who goes before us and stands behind us on both the wonderful, rose colored, everything-is-rainbows-and-smiles days and on the hard, watching-the-clock-for-bedtime, I-will-LOSE-it-if-you-do-that-one-more-time days. May He grant us the wisdom and grace to relish the good days and handle the bad to His glory. May He help us to cherish and capture the memories in our minds that are so fleeting. May He enable us to raise our children to forever impact His kingdom.

21 weeks and It's a Boy!!

How far along: 21 weeks

Size of Baby: As per the ultrasound yesterday, he weighs 1 lb. 1 oz. :)

Total weight gain: +16

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Most nights I sleep really well.

Best moment this week: Our ultrasound! We found out Baby is a boy, and he looks great. I didn't get to meet with my doctor, because she was over at the hospital; I'll meet with her Monday to go over everything. She told her nurse she saw no concerns. :) Baby is currently laying a bit transverse/a bit breech, not that it's a matter for concern now...or ever really, since I'm having a C-section this time.

Movement: Yes! He is very active! Yesterday he moved for what seemed like a good three hours straight. Some of that time was during the ultrasound, and it was fun for us to see him moving around in there.

Food cravings: nothing really this week

Gender: It's a boy!

What I miss: nothing notable right now

What I am looking forward to: Now I get to do all the fun stuff: pick out nursery bedding and colors, look at some boy clothes and picking out a name.

Weekly Wisdom: You already know your babies have different characteristics; now you'll get to learn what makes them unique and cherish them both for those.

Milestones: Baby has eyebrows & lids, is developing lanugo, is now practicing breathing and may begin hiccupping.

Labor signs: Nope.

Zooey was SO excited at the ultrasound! She just kept saying (practically yelling) "Look Daddy! Look Mommy! Baby!!" It was pretty cute. When the tech asked us if we had names, she said "Peter Pan!" It was so sweet to be able to take her. She is now calling all her babies boys, and last night at dinner she was pointing out the gender of everyone in the restaurant. She's so funny! When asked if she's excited to have a brother, she says, "yes," and said she will be nice, "no mean" to her brother. :)

21weeks

Our sweet baby boy

Could we have a thumb-sucker?

20 weeks - halfway there!

If you want to get technical, I'm actually a week past "halfway there," since I know I'm having a C-section this time and Baby will get here sometime in my 39th week (and prayerfully not before!).

How far along: 20 weeks

Size of Baby: About the length of a banana (approx. 10.5 oz. and 6.5")

Total weight gain: +13.4 (-0.9 from last week...lost a little of my appetite because of this cold)

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: Not awesome due to being sick.

Best moment this week: Definitely feeling Baby a lot more! His/her movement is getting stronger s/he grows, and I'm feeling the movement a lot more throughout the day.

Movement: Yes, quite a bit more.

Food cravings: ice cream

Gender: Thinking boy, but I don't really know.

What I miss: "real" cold medicine

What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound next week!

Weekly Wisdom: Just trying to cherish these little movements, because I know I'll forget too quickly.

Milestones: Baby is swallowing more and producing meconium.

Labor signs: Nope.



20 weeks Baby #2
 Glamour Shot: sick with no make up