Peanut #2- 25 weeks

Time seems to be going faster now that I'm out of the morning sickness and pain phase, I'm 25 weeks and over halfway through this pregnancy.  This little one is hanging out a LOT lower than Lillian ever did and is much more active too.  With Lillian I always had to lay down and wait to feel her, with this little girl I feel her all the time.  Since she was so low I was having a lot of back pain starting around 18 weeks, luckily she has moved and it is not nearly as bad.  Of course I do still have days where I hurt, usually if I've been walking or standing all day.  I feel like I still have quite a bit of time to get ready for her but I have been having some strong nesting urges!  Luckily since she is another girl we don't need much, most of my nesting will be pulling out the old baby clothes and rewashing them and putting them away.  I have also been wanting to start a knitting project for her like I did for Lillian.  I'd like to make something special for each child I have and this time I'm thinking a stuffed musical baby deer since the girls will be sharing a forest themed room.  I'm kind of creating my own pattern and have had some trial and error experiences; however, after ripping out my work again I think I've found a pattern I can modify fairly easily to create it.  

Just as I did with the last pregnancy, I've been taking weekly belly photos (with the exception of the 2 weeks we were away from home around Christmas and New Years).  Here is a little animated clip showing my progress so far.  As a comparison, I've also included a side by side shot of my pregnancy with Lillian and this time both at 25 weeks.  Lillian is on the left and the new baby is on the right.  

I'll be taking maternity photos in a few weeks and am very excited for Greg and Lillian to be part of them this time.  You will have to stay tuned to see if we reveal the name in the photos :)

In terms of development, the baby is pretty much fully formed in terms of organs and such.  Now she is getting bigger, putting on some weight and her lungs are still maturing.  She is about a pound and a half now; about the size of an average rutabaga and should be about 13 1/2 inches long from head to toe.  Only 2 more weeks till I'm in the 3rd and final trimester!

Sea World

Lillian enjoyed her first trip to Sea World thanks to Uncle Dana and Auntie Jan who surprised us with season passes for Christmas!  We went on a weekend and it was busy so we did just a quick tour of the aquariums and animals rather than the shows.  Looking forward to taking her again.  She even got to play with Daddy in the Sesame Street area (he had to crawl after her through the ropes course after all! Mama was not going to be able to do that) and she even got to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster!  Thank goodness she doesn't have a fear of them like her Mama did when she was a kid..... well a fear of anything dressed up in a costume.  She was SOOOO excited!

Rose Parade

Right after we returned from our Christmas vacation, we returned the rental car and drove up to Pasadena the next day to catch the Rose Parade.  I knew it was a big deal but I didn't realize how many people camp out in the streets!!!!  We decided to get a hotel close by for New Year's Eve and all went to bed very early that night, not even bothering ringing in the new year so we could get a very early start toward the parade route.  We woke up at 3:30am, hopped on the metro system and arrived at the parade route by 5:30am.  There were so many people even that early! Most had camped out the previous afternoon or night and I was very concerned I'd have to stand for the next 5 hrs.... pregnant that was not really an option.  Greg went off with Lillian strapped to his chest to find us some coffee and breakfast and I started asking those around me if we could snag a portion of the curb they weren't using.  Sure enough we got a spot!  We even met a family whose son was marching in the parade.  I thought I marched in the same parade as a Junior in high school and Greg was bothered by my lack of memory.... we had made a trip down there, got to lead the Disneyland parade and performed in what I thought was the rose parade back in 2000.  Greg feels I should have remembered the floats but as a band it was just another performance for me and you didn't march that close to the floats.... the amount of people and distance were not that unusual as far as I remember either.  Anyway, once it started Lillian was quite entertained (although we were there 3 hrs early so trying to keep her engaged for that long was a bit tricky).  The theme this year was "Oh the Places You'll Go".  It was quite a site to see, all the huge floats made completely out of plant material; however, it may be one of those once in a lifetime type things.... not sure I'd be willing to do it again unless one of my kids were performing in it.  I did manage to get some good photos of my favorite floats. 

Christmas

Greg got some time off work so we rented a car and drove up to Northern Cali for Christmas.  We spent most of the trip with his family; this was the first time they were all together again since our wedding coming up on 4 years ago.  There were lots of pictures so the easiest way to show them is in the book I created.  It is also on the Sims Peanut Shutterfly site if you'd like to order a copy for yourself.  You will need an account to order anything from the site but it is very easy to set up.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly baby photo books are the perfect way to preserve your baby's precious moments.

It's a.......

We had our big ultrasound and everything looked great!! The baby is measuring about a half a week bigger and at my last appointment there was some discussion about it but it would only change my due date up by a few days..... so I told him the baby will come when the baby comes and I've always planned late April.  (I have a feeling it will happen around the 18th for some reason.... have had that feeling for quite some time)  We told the tech we wanted her to write down the gender and put it in an envelope.  Later in the morning, Lillian and I took the envelope and a box to Babies R Us.  We picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit, took both to the register and asked the to ring up the corresponding outfit that is revealed in the card.  The cashier was very excited she got to be part of this surprise for me.  I had her ring it up, put it directly in the box with the receipt so I didn't even know.  I also bought a card there and asked her to put the gender inside the card so I could mail it to one set of grandparents.  We took the gift home, wrapped it and took it to Greg's parents for a big Christmas reveal.  We mailed the card to my parents so they could open it Christmas Day as well and we could all find out together even though we were going to be in different places.  Greg's dad, Gary, did the honors of opening the gift and we found out it's a...........

Mama's Birthday Weekend

We took a little day trip up to Santa Monica for my birthday weekend.  As a special treat Lillian got to spend the day with her Mimi, Papa and Auntie Jess and Sandra too!  Jessica was trying out for a new baking show premiering on CBS this fall (unfortunately she didn't make it but that doesn't mean we didn't still have fun!)  I convinced her to talk my parents into coming down so we could all spend our birthday weekend together.  Here are a collection of pictures from that trip: