September happenings

Well, here we go again...it's another end of the month and I've realized I've neglected updating anything on here.  It's not intentional, I promise!  September has been full of many activities (as usual).  Mostly, we've been enjoying welcoming in fall--minus all the cloudy, rainy days.  But this is always my favorite time of year.  The weather gets cooler, the leaves changing are beautiful and it's time to start baking again (specifically with apples!).  

So, here's what we did this month....

 ...visited the orchards.  Abbie loved the goats and tried feeding them grass, hay, and basically anything she could find.

 Miriam enjoyed taking pictures by the bus and visiting the corn maze in the background.  

 She also like climbing up the stacks of hay and pretending to be the Statue of Liberty.  I love how she was dressed in sweats the same color as the Statue of Liberty that day!

 Abbie feeding again...

 Family picture!

....stayed inside and listened to music!

Matt has been leading worship from the guitar on Sunday evenings for church and has spent a good amount of time polishing up his skills.  The girls always enjoy listening to him, too.  I'm still incredibly impressed how he basically picked up the guitar one day and started playing (with no music or anything).  He's far surpassed anything I can do with guitar!

....smiled!

...and got some new shirts!  

We found these shirts on Francesca Battistelli's website and decided we should get them.  But, so that I don't stretch out too much more....I think I'll have to wait to wear it again until Baby3 is born!

...last but not least, it's a girl!!!!  

Speaking of Baby3, we have now had 2 ultrasounds to confirm we are having another girl.  We're pretty thrilled!  Miriam was really hoping for a brother, but was so excited to hear that she is officially a girl.  She carries around the ultrasound pictures and shouts, "it's a girl!"  We certainly are prepared with girl clothes, toys, furniture and pretty much everything we need!

we have news!

(Alternately titled: "Why I haven't blogged much lately")

We are happy to announce that we are expecting another baby in January!  I am just over 10 weeks along right now and am due around January 25th.

So far, I've been feeling pretty good...mostly just tired.  I have also been dealing with lots of headaches (I remember having them a lot when I was pregnant with Abbie, too).  Otherwise, very thankful that I don't have morning sickness.

I will do my best to keep updating throughout my pregnancy along with the rest of the family, too!  

Labor Story

For those that may be interested, here is my labor story for Abbie... we'll see how far I get writing it until I have a little one that needs to eat!

It started on Sunday evening, February 28th when I managed to get the stomach flu. Miriam had it a few days before me, so inevitably I got it, too. As miserable as the flu is by itself, it's so much worse when you are nine months pregnant! So, because I had the flu, Matt and I decided it would be best to bring Miriam over to her grandparents for a few days to allow me some time to rest. Now we realize that it was also giving me time to rest before our baby came! Finally, by Wednesday, I was starting to feel a little better. I still really hadn't eaten much since Sunday, however. But that night, I was having trouble sleeping so I decided to try and sleep on the couch in order to give Matt some rest. I was able to sleep on and off throughout the night but woke up probably every hour or so to some sort of pain in my stomach (which I now realize were probably contractions). That morning, I realized I was having contractions stronger than I had felt them throughout the pregnancy. Matt went off to work and I let him know I was going to start timing them... just to make sure it wasn't labor. Well, sure enough, I was timing them at about five minutes apart and they kept getting stronger. I had started timing at about 9:00 and called Matt just before 10:00 to tell him he better come home. I called up to the birth center and they told me to come in (I was already at 4 cm the previous day at my doctor's appointment, so they figured I should go). By the time we got everything together and situated in the van, we headed to the hospital. We had called Matt's parents and asked them to meet us at the hospital to get Miriam. When we arrived at the hospital, we stopped in admitting and then headed upstairs. The regular delivery rooms were all full, so I had to go into one of the other rooms in the birth center. My regular doctor wasn't there, but one of the other doctors was about to head back to the clinic and decided to quick check me before she left. Well, sure enough, I was already at 8 cm! That was around 11:30 am. By around noon, they decided to break my water because they figured I would be complete at that point. That seemed to do the trick... and one push later (which was actually four minutes because the cord was around her neck), Abbie was born! I am so thankful that everything went so smoothly -and quickly! I keep telling people that I got the natural childbirth I wasn't planning for at all! Miriam was even able to stay in the waiting room with Matt's step-mom and came to see Abbie shortly after she was born. She was delighted to meet her sister!

Pregnancy thus far...

I haven't really posted much about my pregnancy and thought I should do an update since we only have 10 weeks to go (or less? We'll see!). All in all, I keep commenting to everybody that everything has gone much faster this time. I remember last time I was counting every single week and day that had gone by... this time, I sometimes forget what week I'm on! I would imagine chasing around a two-year-old has a little something to do with that. Going through the holidays probably helped a little, too.

At my doctor's appointment yesterday, I had to see someone different because my doctor was out of town. He asked me to compare this pregnancy with my last. Honestly, it's hard to say! My first trimester this time around was so much easier (which is why I thought we were having a boy)... but since then, I've managed to have a cold that just keeps on going (two months and counting) and has given me nothing but trouble. There were times I have coughed so hard that I strained a muscle on my side and couldn't move. I think, however, I am finally at the end of this and am beginning to be able to move again with little pain. I'm not sure what I'd rather take: morning sickness or an awful cold and extreme pain. Either way, I'm just thankful our little one is healthy and is growing well.

We are so looking forward to introducing baby #2 to everyone in just over two months. We can't wait to meet her!

20 weeks! and... it's a GIRL!

I decided I needed to update our latest news with Baby #2. We were able to get an ultrasound appointment at the local tech college yesterday as students practiced measurements on the ultrasound. And, we were able to find out we're having a baby girl! We were both pretty surprised because we were thinking she was a boy. This pregnancy has just been so different that I assumed it meant boy! We are SO excited to have another girl, though... and especially to re-use the MANY MANY clothes Miriam had. Hopefully we can put some pictures up soon. We will be having another ultrasound appointment in three weeks, so we should get some pictures then, too. Miriam is very excited for her baby sister!

153 bpm!

Today I had a much long-awaited doctor's appointment... the beginning of pregnancy seems to drag slowly along as it's about 4 weeks in between each appointment. So, I was definitely anticipating going in again today and just hearing and knowing for sure that everything was going well. Sure enough, it was a quick appointment (accompanied by a flu shot), but I got to hear our little one's strong heartbeat of 153 beats per minute! Yeah! I could listen to that sound forever. It'll be about another month before I go in again, and unfortunately probably another month after that until the BIG ultrasound (we're too impatient to wait until the end to find out what we're having). But, all in all... it was a wonderful appointment and I am so thrilled everything is going well!

Soon we will be...

...a family of four! We are excited to announce we are expecting our second baby on March 17th! We've already gotten a few pictures of our little one and heard a strong heartbeat. We are so excited for this new addition and for Miriam to be a big sister!