Dearest Penny,

You are 21 months old (almost 22 months)! I have watched you grow (too fast) from a newborn to a busy and curious toddler. You amaze me with the things you learn and show me every day. Lately you have been picking up more words, can understand much of what we say, and are mastering locating body parts (nose, eyes, mouth). I am so lucky to be able to stay at home and watch you grow.

I’m sure you’ve noticed my growing belly. You stand underneath it and can’t see me when you look up. It makes me giggle when you try to grab it or move it out of the way. Baby Sister has been growing inside the belly and she is almost ready to come out (whether the rest of us are ready for her or not!).

I know that you are going to be a wonderful big sister (I even told you this today and you nodded your head in agreement). You have been playing with your doll, dressing her, taking her for walks around the house in her stroller and giving her a bink. You even think she should sit in the infant carseat we have in the car. You are such a sweet and loving girl. You love to play, you sleep and eat well, and I can tell your imagination and personality grows by the second.

I’m excited for our new girl to arrive. I’m also a little scared. I love the bond that you and I have. I know what you need, even though you can’t quite say it yet. I love our cuddle time and our outings to the park or ice cream. I’m going to work hard to make sure we still get those moments together.

And I’m going to work hard to get those moments with your baby sister, too.

I hate the thought of being away from you for a couple more days & nights, even though I know Daddy and Grandma totally spoil you I know there will be adjustment period when your baby sister comes home. I hope it is short and relatively easy. I’m not really sure how I’m going to handle the first time that both of you need me. I’m going to need your help (and Daddy’s, and Grandma’s, and the Aunties’ and whoever else comes to visit!), but I know we will again find a routine that works for us as a family of four (five, including Gunner!).

You have been such a wonderful baby, and I know you will be a wonderful big sister. Get ready, because our family is about to grow again with more love than we know to be possible, just like it did when you arrived.

I love you.
-Mommy

Being Silly w/ Mommy

Checking out Airplanes with Daddy at the Naval Aviation Museum

What a Big Girl!!

I’m not going to be pregnant much longer. By some miracle I am still wearing the same shirt for these photos (although it will never be the same & you have to notice the white tank top sticking out underneath).

And my husband is sweet. He asked me how long it took me to get “made up” for this photo, thinking I had spent extra time on the hair and makeup. I literally took it before I got into the shower after looking “like this” all day. Oh, the magic of photo filters

How in the world did I end up in the hospital for three days and come out with no baby!?!? Haha. Talk about Mother Nature screwing with the emotions of a hormonal pregnant lady! It’s so frustrating to be so close and know it was “almost time” to meet New Girl. But, almost doesn’t count.

As much as I know and understand that another 2-5 weeks would help her grow and develop, I just want her to be in my arms and not carry her in my belly anymore. Every day counts. It’s really hard to accept that I really could be pregnant until I am induced sometime in early June. I joke that being pregnant for that much longer “is not an option”, but in reality it is.

We are getting things set up for Girly (the pack & play, the bouncer, the carseat, etc.) and I tell her every day about all of things and people out here waiting for her.

Upon release from the hospital on Wednesday I was cleared to resume normal activity, so I have been (along with the help of my mom) lightly cleaning the house, taking walks with Penny, and playing with Gunner. I now have weekly doctor appointments (we were almost to that point anyways, I just get one at 37 weeks now as well as the normal 38,39,40,41 week appointments as needed until baby arrives)

Girly will arrive when she is ready. Although it would be really convenient for her to arrive this weekend sometime with my mom already being here and Blake being in between blocks of flights at work…. I’m not exactly making it easy and comfy to stay put, but I know that over-doing it isn’t a good idea either. I hope I can be patient and not go nuts before she tells me it’s really time.

1. Not only do you get breakfast in bed, you get lunch and dinner in bed, too.
2. You didn’t have to cook it.
3. It gets delivered to your room.
4. There are no dishes to do.
5. Nothing tastes as good as chicken broth and cherry jello after not eating for 24 hours.

I’m trying to find the good in the position we are in. Sunday night, new girl thought it might be fun to throw a final party. She was kicking and squirming and going to town in her comfy cozy home. We had done normal things all day: walked around Target, took Gunner and Penny to the park, I made dinner and I ran through a shower with Penny. It was about this time I noticed I should probably sit down for the night. I put Penny to bed and helped Blake with some studying.

I was fairly uncomfortable when I went to bed, but I fell asleep anyways. A couple hours later I was up with cramps. I drank water, laid on my side, got up to walk around. Lather, rinse, repeat for about 4 hours. Not in pain, but noticeable rock hard belly more than 4 times each hour. I decided to call the hospital and they recommended I come get checked out. I hate to be a hypochondriac, and I feel like I have been very paranoid this pregnancy of every movement and perceived difference. I knew as soon as I got to the hospital things would calm down and they would send me home.

I loaded Penny in the car and told Blake I would give him updates since he had a flight later that day. This was too early for Girly to arrive (35 weeks 4 days) anyways.

Penny hates the child development center. But that’s a story for another day. It’s just not the same as having mom around.

I got hooked up to the monitors in the Labor & Delivery triage room. Baby’s heart rate looked good and I felt great. I was a fingertip dilated. A couple more tests and checks determined we needed to “wait and see” for a couple hours.

The longer I sat there, the more painful (still not more than bad cramps and some back pain) and frequent my belly hardened. 1cm dilated after 2 hours. They used the words “pre-term labor” and gave me a medication to slow the contractions while they transferred me just in case to a local hospital that is more equipped for the extra care babies need if they arrive early.

I got my first ambulance ride. I don’t think I got lights and sirens.

Oh yeah, Penny is still at CDC, Blake has to call in and cancel his flight & we’ve started to call family & let them know what’s going on. Slight chaos and panic. *slight*

I’m hooked up to monitors, given an IV, got an ultrasound, talked to doctors. Regular contractions. Low back pain. The plan is (since I’m so close to term), to not aid or prevent whatever my body is doing until I get into full labor. Hopefully the contractions will stop on their own and baby can bake a little longer. I’m 3-4cm dilated and 50% effaced. Blake and I decide on a first name. Her middle name is still being discussed….

All. Day. Long. 24 hours of contractions before they fizzled out last night. This mommy is tired.

Yay for keeping baby growing for a little longer, but we are staying in the hospital for a couple days. I’m here until I hit the 36 week mark & then they will release me. I’m pretty much considering it “observed bed rest” because I’m pretty sure as soon as I’m allowed to go home, gravity and real life will help mother nature out and I’m going to end up back at the hospital. Whatever. It’ll give her an extra 1/2 lb or so to work with New girl is measuring about a week big & if she wants to come soon, I think she is ready. We may have thought we got a couple more weeks, but she’s the boss…

I do wish I could be at home with my family, though. I would even promise to be a good patient and (really) stay in bed!!!

Long story short, no baby yet. (although I’ve had two contractions while I’ve been writing this….)

Thank you so much to all of my family, friends, & “military family” for helping out and checking on us. My mom flew into town and is helping out with Penny. We are so thankful to have so many people willing to help out & I promise to keep you posted!

Here’s the latest photo. Somehow I am still fitting into this striped maternity t-shirt… Although, when I went to Target today I had to keep pulling it down as I walked through the aisles.

We are also getting closer to picking Girly’s name. And no, I’m not leaking it until we introduce her to you! That’s the way it goes, we find out and share the gender after the 20 week ultrasound, but keep the name for the surprise at her birth. Just know the same rules apply as with Penelope’s name: Feminine & traditional spelling.

Hopefully I will have good news and lots to report after my 36 week appointment this week! We are getting really excited for Girly to make her grand entrance!

Last weekend we celebrated Easter. We all had fun dying eggs this year.

The bunny delivered Penny’s basket and water table in the morning and came back at naptime to hide the eggs.

I took lots of video, but not many photos on Sunday.

I was drained on Friday from the past week. So, I took Penny to Baskin Robbins & we shared an ice cream sundae. She really liked the whipped cream & didn’t drip too much until it started melting towards the end.

She and Gunner crack me up. Just a girl & her dog….

Blake has to work this weekend (it’s ok, it gets him closer to being done with this block of flights) so we went to dinner at the beach tonight and took a walk in the sand before heading home.

Just for the record, whoever discovered that baby powder sprinkled on sandy toes (or hands, or whatever…) gets the sand off is a genius & my hero.

Since I’ve been a total slacker & these are “easy posts”….

Penny got dressed up this morning

We’ve been having some seriously fun days around here. I think it’s the age Penny is at. She absolutely LOVES to be outside and I’m taking full advantage of it while the weather is still mild enough to enjoy the great outdoors.

Today I set up the kiddie pool and sprinkler and Penny & Macy had a blast.

We are spending lots of BFF time
together lately because Macy and her family will be moving soon We’ve been lucky to have had them live near us for so long and will definitely miss them. Hopefully one day soon the BFFs will be reunited!!

So it’s been way too long since I updated this….

Here’s a current photo (taken like 5 minutes ago).

I’m 32 weeks pregnant with Girly2. Only a couple more weeks to go & I am so very ready to meet her!

I’m feeling good (better than the second trimester even!). I’m over this “being pregnant” business, not gonna lie. I have a prescription for my heartburn. My clothes don’t fit. It’s hard to pick things up off the floor. It’s hard to hold Penny. I don’t sleep through the night (even though Penny does now!). I pretty much am just excited that in less than 2 months I won’t be pregnant anymore

My appointments are getting more frequent & as far as we can tell baby is measuring on track and sounds healthy. She should be around 4 pounds at this point.

I still don’t think Penny has any clue that she is gaining a live-in BFF (nor do I really think she will realize that until much later in life, haha!). She has really taken an interest in her baby doll, though. We took it to the grocery store the other day. It rode next to her in the cart & only ended up on the floor a couple times

I’ve got some great photos to share from the last couple weeks & am hoping to share them in posts coming in the (near) future!!