25 Weeks

Wow!  Only 15 more weeks to go...This little baby feels like she's "cooking" a lot faster than Ben did, ha!!  Lately, she's been kicking a TON, making my belly bounce and jiggle all around :)  I had another doctor's visit this week to take the awful Glucose Tolerance test - thankfully, I passed it just fine so I won't have to drink that terrible stuff anymore.  I did test a little low for hemoglobin, so need to start taking an iron supplement. 

I was looking to see if I had any ultrasound pictures I hadn't posted yet, because I"m not really in the mood to post another belly shot right now, LOL!!!  I didn't have any, but did realize I hadn't posted this of when we announced that we were having a baby (and didn't yet know the gender!!)

I made this little sign to go with the pink and blue cupcakes I took to work that day (and, of course, sent some to work with Mark, too!).  It was SO cute, because just about everyone came by my cubicle that day to let me know that they were going to eat a PINK cupcake for me!! Ha, ha!!  I think by sheer force, our coworkers and friends willed us a girl!!

Since she did end up being a girl, we already had a name picked out for the most part.  We had picked it the first pregnancy before we knew what we were having.  Since I was just about worn out the first time around with so, so, so many questions about "What are you going to name him?"....I was ready to get it out there what this little girl's name was going to be!! 

On Mother's Day, we had brunch with Mark's mom Susanah and his stepdad Raoul, and announced then that we would be naming her  ~ Susanah Julia Williams ~ and calling her "Anna".  We just love the name Anna and were honored to name her after Mark's mom, and since I'm the fifth generation of "Julias" in my mom's family, we though it would be great to carry on that tradition and have Anna be the sixth generation to have that name :) 

We can't wait to meet you, Miss Anna!!

Ben's First Easter Egg Hunt!

This year was the first year Ben could understand some of the whole Easter thing, so we were all excited about his very first Easter Egg Hunt!  We spent a beautiful Easter afternoon at Grandmama's and Grandaddy's house, eating brunch and dyeing eggs (well, Mason and Chandler made some GREAT eggs; Ben would have made a GREAT BIG mess!!)

Then is was finally time for the hunt!!

Mama and Ben had "practiced" a little bit in our yard that weekend, just to make sure he knew the drill and he had a ball, so we knew this would be fun :)

The whole gang....

Ben with Mama....

...& Dada

...and big brothers "May May" and "Bo Bo" (Mason and Chandler's self-chosen nicknames!!)

My Lil' Monkey Goes to the Zoo

Last month, we took Ben on his first trip to a zoo!  We went on a gorgeous Saturday to the Knoxville Zoo and had a fabulous day :)  Lately, he's been a little anti-stroller, so I was worried about that, but really, at his age...it was going to be stroller or nothing at a place like the zoo.  Fortunately, he did GREAT.

First stop:  the penguins.  Some of the animals were a little difficult to see from a stroller, but these little guys were right on Ben's level ~ he loved them!

Here's his cute little safety tattoo...I thought he'd hate it since he's not into Band-Aids these days, but Mark and I talked it up about being cool, and he didn't mind it a bit! 

Next stop after the penguins was the camels.  These guys were fenced in, but you could pet them as they stuck their heads over the fence, and even pay to ride on them!!

I think the Merry-Go-Round was one of Ben's favorite things...he was such a big boy riding it!!

The Knoxville Zoo has a wonderful, entire area just for little children.  We spent a lot of time here on the slides, Merry-Go-Round, and petting zoo...here's Ben brushing a goat!

We also got to see monkeys, elephants, lots of snakes, giraffes, really cute meerkats, and of course, lions and tigers. 

Whew! As soon as we headed for the car, Little Man was OUT!  What a big, fun day for us all :)

Our Excitement for the Day

I may have mentioned it in an earlier post, but Ben's MOST favorite thing to do lately is to "drive".  He is just crazy about simply sitting in the parked car (ignition off, of course) and pushing all the buttons and opening/closing the garage door a hundred times.  (All I can think of is "Wonder how much sooner we're going to have to buy a new garage door motor because of this??").  He will even ask for the keys and say, "Bye bye"...as in..."Close the door and let me drive by myself"..ha!!

So, we typically let him do all this while we're outside doing other stuff, and be SURE to open at least one other door and/or window since he has the keys in there.  Welllll.....even the best plans go awry once in a while. 

Yes, Ben got locked in the car today :(  Poor little thing thought it was funny for about 10 minutes, and then bawled for the next 20 minutes until Pop-A-Lock got there.  You see, we only have one set of keys to my car.  That little booger somehow managed to hold onto the keys, open the driver door, hit the lock button on it, close it, then climb in the back driver door that I had opened so this exact thing wouldn't happen, and close it - while I was unloading our bags just from the garage to the dining room (not far!) from our trip to Gastonia this weekend. 

Well...lesson learned (by me,  not him - he wanted to drive again less than an hour later!!!)....1). no more driving with the keys, even with other doors open.  And 2).  Call Pop-A-Lock if it even happens again.  They were there in 20 minutes and it's FREE if a child is locked inside the car, LOL!!!

My poor baby...he was fine until I put him down to capture the moment for all eternity ;)

Two Months Away from TWO!

Twenty-two months old...Wow!  Ben was just turning one yesterday, it seems!  Little Man is growing and changing so much lately, and it's SO cute :)  He is really into copying us these days.  You never know what will come out of his mouth after it comes out of yours, ha ha!!  He also likes getting a laugh out of you, and knows that saying, "OH, Baby Bobo!" will do it (don't know where he came up with that?) so he hams it up for us often. 

Here we are watching Baby Einstein on the computer ~ love that snuggling! 

This is his "smile" when he's getting his picture taken...

A week or so ago, Ben had another little bug, and wasn't quite feeling himself :(

Daddy and Ben on the blowups at Rita's for the First Day of Spring! celebration

Trying on Daddy's shoes for size!!

Fun times at Wallabies at one of his first "real" birthday parties he attended.

21 Weeks and Counting ~ Over Halfway!

Last week, went to see Dr. Hallman for our next appointment, which came at 21 weeks.  He measured my belly and listened to her heartbeat and all was well with the baby :)  It was a pretty uneventful visit, thank goodness!  At 21 weeks, Baby Girl is now about 11 inches long and weighs just under a pound.  From the looks of my belly, she sure does seem bigger than that, ha ha!!!  Here's the progression starting at 10 weeks....

I'm pretty puzzled as to why 14 weeks and 20 weeks look almost the same ~ I think I was suffering from some serious bloating!  Whew...glad that's gone (for the moment ;) !!

Bathtime for Bonzo!

I don't know why, but Mark used to say that a lot when Ben was smaller and it was bathtime, and it always made me laugh. Well, Little Man was certainly due for a BIG bath after this episode at dinner Monday night!! And LAUGH, we did :)

You’re Not Going to Believe This, but…

It’s A Girl!!!

I’m still getting over the shock, as I had honestly just assumed all along that it would be a boy. I was very content knowing Ben would have a brother so close to his own age to grow up with, and then WHOA! A girl?! I don’t think it has really sunk in yet, but I am excited!!!

We really weren’t supposed to go for our Anatomy Scan for another week, but my friend April and I were talking about how we were dying to know the gender so I could shop for the baby at fun consignment sale this week. Well, one thing led to another, and before you know it, April’s friend (an ultrasound technician) at her OB office was “sneaking” us in to “take a peek”!! So here we go at lunch one day (so the doctors would be gone!)…I first stopped at Panera to get her friend some lunch, then waited for April to get there, too.

First text from April: “Try not to look pregnant” Whoops. Of ALL days, that was the day I wore the big ol’ comfy tent-like, empire waisted shirt that just screams~~MaTeRnItY!!~~. Ha! So, despite the fact that it was 75°, I grabbed my coat and held it in front of me the whole time.

Second text from April: “Tell Mark to come sit in the lobby 2 minutes after we go in” More laughs….I think we’re on an episode of Mission: Impossible!

April brings a cute 31 brand bag and I bring Panera, so as to look like we’re bringing her friend lunch and her party order. They buzz us on back and we act like we’re socializing until the coast is clear. Well, we really were socializing – fun girl-talk about Jake Gyllenhaal, TV shows, pets, husbands, where to get the best pictures taken of our children, etc…SO, when the ultrasound room cleared out, in we go.

While I’m getting ready, April goes out to the lobby and waves Mark in very suspiciously – ha ha ha!!! So here we all are, and as soon as the ultrasound shows the baby, Mark says, “I think I see it” – meaning the “turtle” like the one we saw on Ben’s ultrasound. So, she wiggles the baby around a little more, and then says…..”Nope!” “It’s a girl?” we ask….***insert April going nuts with excitement*** YES, it’s a GIRL!!

Wow! I was pretty much speechless. Mark said he knew all along – and in fact, he had worn his pink tie that day for the occasion :)

Here are the pics we got!!! You can see the gender in this one…three little lines = Girl!

Here she is opening her mouth...she did that several times!

Ahhhh....

....I think the fog is lifting!! I can actually stay up past 8:30 at night now!! The entire past few months have been pretty rough ~ extreme exhaustion, colds, stomach bugs, you name it...I had it. I honestly never thought I'd be up for more than an hour after Ben went to bed ever! But, it seems like things have turned a corner :) I'm finally sickness-free (thank you, God!) and have a little bit of energy in the evenings and it's so nice for a change! Last week, I had a week-long bought with morning sickness (the kind that comes and goes all day) that was a bit unexpected since at 16 weeks, I'm in the second trimester. Today and yesterday have been a little better (I even felt the baby move for the first time today!!), and I'm really hoping that nausea will be a thing of the past VERY soon.

Since I never once felt sick while pregnant with Ben, Mark and I are wondering if this little one might be a girl?? Everytime I ask Mark what he wants it to be, he gives me a different answer (very funny). So I don't know about him, but for me, I can honestly say it really doesn't matter. I can see great sides to both possibilities! Of course, I want more than anything for the baby to be 100% healthy with no complications. We won't have to wait long to find out what we're having, though ~ our next appointment will be the "big" ultrasound in only two weeks!! Yay!

Another Real Baby!!!

Wow! We just had our NT scan done again, and this is the first time we've seen any evidence of a "real baby" in there...we saw legs, arms, and hands flying everywhere! It was amazing to see our little baby in there, looking like a tiny person :)

And an answered prayer ~ the test came back fine. The baby was MUCH more cooperative than Ben was for his test, and they were able to measure the back of the neck several times really well, and the number was great. They also saw a nasal bone, which is a very good sign of a healthy baby. The heartbeat was 152 bpm and the baby was 5.8 cm long (not including the legs!). Already growing so fast!! Here are some pictures...

10 Weeks Along

Hi Little Baby! This weekend, we reached 10 weeks ~ you’re now an fetus instead of an embryo! Lately, you’ve been making Mama very tired, hungry, and giving me lots of stomach pains. I haven’t felt you move yet, but probably will in the next few weeks! This weekend, we heard your heartbeat twice with a home fetal Doppler machine. I’m so excited to be able to hear it this early!! The first time, we heard it right away, but after that, it was a little tricky to find again. You should have seen the smile on Daddy’s face when we heard it, though!!

I can’t believe you’re only 1.2 inches at this point. So tiny, but I know you’ll grow fast. We have been giving thanks and praying for you every day, Little One. Can’t wait to meet you…Love, Mama

Big as a Blueberry

January 3, 2011
Today I went to the OB to have bloodwork done to confirm the pregnancy. It was VERY uneventful....just waiting now until January 26 to go back to see the heartbeat!!

January 26, 2011
Well, today was a big day!! My follow-up appointment to see a doctor about my bloodwork and to get an ultrasound was today. I tried not to think about it too much by keeping busy with other things, but yesterday I got so anxious about whether or not the baby would be OK (i.e. Would we see a heartbeat?), I could hardly stand it. I even called and got my appointment moved from 4:00 to earlier in the day 11:00.

Thank goodness everything was just fine. God sure is good to me. The baby had a heartbeat of 136 and measured 1.1 cm...about the size of a blueberry! They estimated me to be about 7 weeks and 4 days along, making our due date (GET THIS...)

9 - 10 -11 !

How cool is that!??

I'm not sure why (maybe the size of the baby is still so small?) but it was very hard to see him/her. Here are the ultrasound pics we got, though...the baby is laying in the bottom of the black "bubble".




Afterwards, Mark and I stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A to celebrate ~ what a wonderful day!

Shhhh! *happy new year's*

December 31, 2010

Today we found out we're so blessed to be expecting another baby! We had no big plans for New Year's Eve this year except to just eat take-out, drink champagne and enjoy some yummy chocolate-covered strawberries. So when I was out picking up dinner, I made sure to pick up some sparkling cider for me, too!

We decided to ring in the new year at 10:00 rather than midnight because honestly, a good night's sleep was more appealing than watching the ball drop on TV! So, I waited until Mark popped the bubbly and then gave him the good news :) He really couldn't believe it and was so incredibly happy ~ and surprised!!

I think that was my best New Year's Eve EVER!

Unfortunately, we won't be telling anyone for a while....I'm not even 4 weeks along yet!!

My Baby is Growing Up!

Oh, Ben...you're looking and acting like SUCH a big boy these days!! Mama's no longer rocking you to sleep (just standing by your crib until you lay down :), and Daddy and I are amazed at all the cute new things you're saying every day! Just today, you had your first "real" phone conversation....this morning, I talked to you on the phone and you said Hello, I love you Mama, and Bye Bye!! The wheels are turning in your head, my smart little boy, and it's so fun to watch you grow each day!

Speaking of growing, here's Ben at 19 months ~ wow!

19 Months in the Making!

Well, Ben's had an eventful past couple of months. He went for his 18 month check-up in January and got that last set of shots until he's almost school age ~ whoo hoo! He was still in the 75% for height at 33 inches and up to the 30% in weight at 24.5 pounds.

He's saying so many new words every day - it's so fun to hear! Some here lately have been apple, ball, bowl, orange, downstairs, upstairs, more, No, Yes, sock, Mimi, Bop ("Pop"), ice (that's a favorite!), berry, baby, Ben (sounds like "men"), mommy (still calls me Mama 99% of the time) , and please. He can also put them together in little short sentences, and has said bye bye dada, bye bye mama, bye bye bubba, hello dada, I la la dada, let's go!, and more please. He even made a sentence in sign language the other day by signing "more" then "bath"...it was the cutest thing EVER (as he's sitting in the empty bathtub that all the water has drained out)!!!

Ben had a fun time at Grandmama's for the Superbowl. We made a game board where you put your initials in a block and you win if that block has the score for the end of any of the quarters in the game. He enjoyed picking his own squares, and ended up beating all of us because he had the winning score for two different quarters - that means he won $10!! Ha!!

Here we are on a warm January day playing on the neighbor's cool tree swing.

So what else is new? Lately Ben likes carrying around a pair of his old cotton pajamas, or one of my soft pajama t-shirts. So, I got out a bunch of little baby blankies we call "lovies" and he takes one to bed every night now and seems to really find a lot of comfort in it.

Ben's also trying LOTS more foods these days....WHEW! He will eat anything with ketchup (green beans dipped in ketchup, anyone?!). One of his newest foods is shreds of carrot. Mark and I are so, so glad that he's eating more with the family now rather than us feeding him the few certain foods he liked.

Lastly, he's starting to mind a tiny bit, but is still generally unfazed by "time out". Sometimes when he does something he knows he's not supposed to do, like drop food on the floor from his highchair, or throw a toy, he looks at me and says, "Noooooooo" with the cutest little point of the finger - it's all I can do not to scoop him up and laugh!!

Ben attended his first "big boy" birthday party last month, too....here he is at Appalachian Gymnastics, having a BALL on the slide (climbing up all by himself!!), and loving the trampoline floor!

My Sweetie Pie

Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year, and that is also the day we go to Kindermusik class. So, we got to take Valentines to all Ben's little buddies. We thought bubbles would be fun since there's not much candy-eating going on around this house (yet!)...
Then it was time for a little Valentine's Day gift from Mama and Daddy. Oh, the fun of opening a present!!

A new bath toy!! This cool thing has stackable pieces, and even has a battery and squirts out water....F-U-N!! Daddy's idea for a new "do":

One happy fella!! ***love him***