Life Lately

 I have so much to be grateful for and I find myself so overwhelmed that I hardly look around and just give thanks for it all. Lillian will be a year old in just a few weeks! I can't believe it. She is so busy right now that it is hard to imagine just a year ago she was brand new to the world and could only eat, sleep and cry:) She is so close to walking. I am getting excited but also nervous for how even more busy we will be if we weren't already. We also are going through her first big illness-an ear infection. NO FUN! We were in Missoula for a long weekend and she did really good but each evening she would get really irritable and just want to be put to sleep which was really nice but little did we know she was fighting something. Sunday she woke up crying, which she never does and was really out of it. She slept off and on the whole way home. She is always a good sleeper when she is sick but come Monday evening she cried off and on all night and also last night. This morning she cried straight for about two hours with me feeling completely helpless. I took her to the doctor right away. I was so worried something really bad was wrong. It was an ear infection which still isn't fun but I'm relieved it isn't anything too serious. And Bryce is out of town this week so that has made things hard. I am exhausted to say the least and still don't know what I'm going to do with 2 babies. But some good news out of all of this is I'm an Auntie!! Bryce's brother and his wife welcomed a baby girl last night named Evelyn Judith. I still have yet to meet her because I've been taking care of Lilly but she is precious! And my sister in law had a home birth and did beautifully! I guess her labor from start to finish was about 5 hours. Can you believe that?! Mine was almost a whole a day. Praying for a fast one with this little baby boy. What else? I am counting down the weeks until our baby boy is here. 9 weeks left! I'm so thankful for how well it has gone so far. He is still a big mover and I think I have every third trimester symptom but still so excited for his arrival and thankful to be pregnant. Like I said earlier we spent 4 days in Missoula this last weekend. It was so fun! Bryce had to take his PE exam and I am SO thankful it is over with. He feels good about it so that makes me happy. He won't know for a couple months whether he passed but I'm sure he did. At least I hope so, he studied his butt off. The weather wasn't great in Missoula but we still made the best of it. We walked around campus and tried to remember life when we lived there almost nine years ago! And then we spent a lot of time at the hotel because Lillian slept so much. We also took her swimming and if only we had known she wasn't feeling good we wouldn't have done that. She loved it though! She has come a long ways since her first swimming experience. Each time we go she gets more comfortable with being in a huge bath tub.
Life will start to get really busy. Next weekend is a baby shower for my sweet boy. Then the next weekend is Lilly's 1st birthday! We are doing a cinco de mayo party and I am attempting to make a butterfly cake. It is just going to be a small family party since Lilly won't really understand whats going on. Then its Mothers Day and I am really wanting to walk in the Womens Run since I missed it last year. Then the next weekend is Bryce and I's 6th anniversary!! And then its memorial day and we're just a couple weeks away from baby coming! All good stuff! 
Now for some pictures of life lately:

This is what Lilly does when you say smile. I have about 100 pics of her doing this

At the UM campus right by Miller Hall where Bryce lived

Another one of Lilly's silly faces

Enjoying being outside before the cold came back

She is such a silly girl

swimming!!

Pregnancy Post

I have been horrible about keeping track of this pregnancy. In a way it is nice to not be so consumed with it but I also don't want to regret not documenting it. It has been a really good pregnancy so far and I am so thankful to God for it. Before I felt any movement I would almost forget I was pregnant. But since 18 weeks the little guy reminds me constantly that he is in there with all his dance moves:)

How far along: 25 weeks, I admit some weeks I forget. I would of never forgot when I was preggo with Lilly.
Total weight gain: 15lbs! Holy cow is me
Maternity clothes: Yep and lots of sweat pants because I spend all my time on the floor playing with my daughter.
Stretch marks: Not yet(crossing my fingers) I didn't get any with my first so I am hoping it repeats itself.
Sleep: Okay, some nights are better than others. I can even go without peeing, but then I have nights that I just can't get comfortable or I'm nauseous.
Best moment of this week: Making onsies for the babe and also a couple for my niece arriving in April. It was so fun and I got some good girl time with my friend Maggie.
Miss anything: Wine, my energy, my brain, my normal clothes
Movement: Yes, LOTS! I love it but it is so much different than my first. Lilly was really mellow and this baby is moving all the time, seriously! I love it though!
Food cravings: Not yet. I just eat a lot and what I can that doesn't make me feel sick.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Anything in the morning
Have you started to show yet: Of course, but now I look more pregnant rather than like I still had a few pounds from my last pregnancy. I can tell that people were afraid to say or ask anything when I had Lillian with me.
Gender: Boy!!
Labor signs: No, Praising God on that:)
Belly button in or out: Still very much in
Wedding rings on or off: On
Happy or moody most of the time: A little bit of both. It is hard being pregnant with an infant and to be happy all the time.
Looking forward to: Lillian being a big sister and a cousin all within a couple months of each other.



Here I am at 25 weeks, finally took my first picture of this pregnancy

Just a few things....

Okay so it has been awhile and now I have lots to update on but I will keep it simple and to the point. First off January flew by, sort of. As I said in the previous post I was sick and it continued to linger for about two weeks. I was getting very discouraged and then one day I was cured and all was good again. Then we celebrated Miss Faith's 2nd birthday. We have made it a tradition to honor her by making a cake for her(us) each year on the 17th. And Bryce and I took flowers to her grave. God sure is faithful. I would of never imagined on her 2nd birthday that I would have a 8 month old daughter alive and healthy and have yet another baby in my belly. How wonderful is that?! I then celebrated my 28th birthday, wow I feel old sometimes:) It was a wonderful birthday! Bryce, Lillian, and I went to Red Lodge for the day and ate at my favorite place, Café Regis. We planned to walk around but it started snowing thick heavy flakes so we hung out in a coffee shop and then headed home. Bryce and my mom prepared an amazing dinner for me and had a few family and friends stop by and say hi, I couldn't of asked for a better day!
I had been anticipating my 20 week ultrasound since I became pregnant because this time we decided we are finding out the gender of this baby. Each time I had an OB appointment I would ask if we could do the ultrasound sooner and was denied each time and he scheduled it for me at 21 weeks. He insisted that there is a huge difference in a couple weeks and wants to make sure they can see everything so I agreed and tried to be patient. Well we had our appointment and got to see baby on the big screen. I had no idea what to expect and didn't have any feelings either way about a boy or girl. Well within maybe one second the ultrasound tech knew what we were having, apparently it was ready to show off the goods:) We are having a BOY!! I have never seen Bryce so excited in my life, it was hilarious! Baby was moving all over the place which I already knew because I can feel him constantly. I seriously don't think he sleeps, ever. I sure hope this isn't a preview of what it will be like on the outside. Everything else looked great too. Here is a pic of why the doctors are so sure its a boy, if you can see it.

Sorry its sideways, I couldn't get it to rotate
 

Now on to Miss Lillian, who is now in her 9 month of life! Wow! She is growing up faster than I can blink my eyes. Its so fun and exhausting all at the same time. I know that being pregnant doesn't help either. At the end of the day I am spent and I just want to get into bed and read or watch a movie. And that is pretty much what I do:) Bryce has been busy studying for his professionals engineer exam so I haven't felt too guilty about being so lazy. Here are some recent pics of Lillian. She is such a sweetie!

 

So that pretty much sums it all up. I guess it wasn't too much. Again, sorry no belly pictures. If we ever get around to taking any I will be sure to post them:)

 

Happy New Year!

I knew this new year would be different with a baby but I would of never thought that I would be sick with the flu and bedridden for it. Yes, I did get my flu shot and still managed to get a strain of the flu. I am on day 5 of feeling like I get hit with a pile of bricks. I've never been so sick in my life. So last night was spent at home eating chicken noodle soup and watching about an hour of a movie before falling asleep around 9pm. BUT we did manage to be up for midnight because we had a firework show in our backyard that shook our whole house for about five minutes. Luckily Lillian didn't wake up, I have no idea how she didn't though. So Bryce and I shared a New Years kiss and then back to bed we went. I was starting to feel better last night and woke feeling even better this morning so I was ready to venture out of the house. We decided to go to Target because I had a huge list of things we needed. There was hardly anybody shopping this morning, it was so nice. This wasn't what I had in mind for our New Years, but I wouldn't of changed a thing. I had a great time being at home with my family. Bryce and Lilly had a jam session last night with Lilly on the drums and Bryce played the guitar. I joined in later with a tambourine. It was so fun:) Oh and Christmas! It was so great! Lilly really had a great time and she really got some fun gifts to entertain her love for music. She also got her two bottom front teeth for Christmas:) Her sleeping has been a little different but so far she has really handled this teething thing well. I thought for sure she would be crawling before Christmas but she is still just scooting around. She is getting close and I am kind of getting nervous. It has been so nice to just put her in front of her toys and have her just stay in the general area. I could go to the bathroom, turn my back in the kitchen but I feel once she starts crawling I won't be able to leave her sight and our house is small so I feel like she will have no room to play. I know we will survive, it's just overwhelming to think about. 

Christmas Pajamas! You can kind of see the belly bump too.

Opening her first gift

So excited!

chewing on a drumstick with her new teeth

daddy showing her how its done

Jam session with Daddy

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Merry Christmas!

I hope you are all having wonderful Christmas season so far! I think Lillian is really going to like opening presents:) She has already grabbed a few of her gifts under the tree and just wants to rip through the paper. I still have so much to do before Christmas. We went to Mesa, AZ for a few days and it was so wonderful! Lillian had such a great time playing with her little cousin Byron and his dog Chica. It was so sad to leave. Now that we are back it is kind of back to reality getting things ready for Christmas. I know everything will come together:) 
I am now officially in my second trimester! I spoke too soon in my last post saying I was feeling better because all of a sudden my nausea came back and it is especially bad at night. I am hoping after this next week it will start to go away. 
Here are a few pictures that I got from our trip. I only had my phone so I didn't get very many.

Lillian on her 2nd plane ride. She does so good.

Out to lunch with Auntie Erika

Lillian with her favorite cousin Miranda

Holiday season is here! I'm so excited for Christmas this year. I know Lillian will have no idea what is going on but it will be so fun to watch her take in all the goodness of it:) We put up our tree last weekend and I just thought she would love the lights but she could care less. She took one look and hasn't been interested in it since. So I think we are still out a few years before her or the new baby will have any clue on whats going on. December 5th will bring Lillian to 7 months old already! I can't believe how fast she is growing. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Lillian was a pretty colicky baby. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, I thought acid reflux or an allergy to something in my milk. I was told she would grow out of it after 4 months but it still seemed to linger. She had really good days but then she would just have these days of constant whining and she just seemed unhappy. As a mother it is so hard to watch your baby seem unhappy. I fell pretty depressed by all of it. She was a good baby when we would be out and about so no one really understood. Most people thought we were over reacting and i was beginning to feel the same. When I became pregnant I was still breastfeeding exclusively but was told that I might dry up due to pregnancy hormones. After about a month I was noticing that I was already starting to so with much sadness I started to give Lillian formula. It took a few weeks to transition so for about two weeks now she has been strictly fed formula and has also started eating solids three times a day. Oh my goodness, what a difference it has made! Lillian is just SO much happier. We saw a change almost instantly. I now see joy in her eyes that I have never seen and she is just so much more content. She stays up for longer periods and her naps have been longer than her usual half hour. I am so grateful! I am glad I was able to breastfeed her but there was something in my milk that just didn't agree with her even after I gave up all dairy and egg. She is on a special formula that I am hoping we can ease out of over the next few months for one, its very expensive and two I am really hoping she will grow out of this allergy. So all of that has been a huge answer to prayer. Lillian is still immobile for the time being. She seems like she wants to crawl but just isn't sure how to do it. I'm not complaining. I am enjoying having a Christmas tree and not having to baby-proof everything just yet. She can crawl after the holidays, I'd be very happy about that:) 
As for the new baby, it is now in it's 11 week in my womb. This pregnancy seems to be a little different than the last few. I am not as sick anymore and with Lillian the sickness lasted well into the second trimester. I have had zero food aversions. I think that has helped with my sickness because I can eat anything, I always feel a little nausea after I eat but it hasn't kept me from eating like last time. I am very tired though. I have days where I think I could sleep for hours, obviously I can't do that and take care of Lilly:) We will be finding out the gender of this baby so I just can't wait until January! My sister in law finds out what she is having today and I just can't wait! My first niece or nephew, so exciting!
Here's some updated pics of our little family. No belly pics yet but I can assure it that it is already made its appearance and I am slightly insecure about it because I am still so early. But I just need to get over it because I beyond excited to be pregnant again and for Lilly to have a sibling:)

She is such a good eater!

So happy at 6 months

Lillian's first time out in cold, snowy weather.

Getting ready to go to her 2nd wedding

Helping mama unpack Christmas decorations

Such a big girl!

Just waking up

Life Lately

Where to begin, we have had a very busy September and October. Mostly very good things but we did have to temporarily move out of our house due to a sewer main break, what a mess!! We are back and ready to get back to a routine again, especially with Lillian. She has been such a trooper through all this chaos. We finished the month of September with a much needed weekend in Bozeman with our friends. They have two beautiful little girls, so it was so fun to have all of us together for the first time since Lillian had been born. We had great fall weather and Lillian was such a great baby, I don't think she cried once. A week later we found ourselves in Bozeman again with Bryce for his job. The weather wasn't as nice and I wasn't feeling too good but we still enjoyed ourselves. Lillian got to meet my old boss, finally! She just loved Jen, didn't fuss at all in her arms, that doesn't happen too often. And most recently, we just returned home from a trip to Denver. It was a wonderful trip and was so nice to get away from all of our house problems. We just soaked up time with our good friends and got to know the city of Denver, who knows, we may call it home someday:) OH, and remember how I said I wasn't feeling so good in Bozeman? Well there was a very good reason to that. Yep, you guessed it, I'm expecting! AGAIN, for the third year in a row! We were in shock, but SO excited too, and a little scared. So many emotions, but we are just taking it day by day and trying to enjoy our time with Lillian while it is just the three of us:) Through an ultrasound I found out I'm seven weeks along, so still really early. I'm very hopeful and at peace with God's plan and timing. So that sums up life. Lillian is growing up so fast! She is going to be a great big sister! Here's a recap on Lillian at 5 months:

She is a great traveler, she did so good on the plane.
She started the month barely sitting on her own and is now sitting up on her own, mostly:)
Rolls over from both sides and can scoot herself around the floor, so i really have to watch her now
Still really loves her daddy, he can make her laugh so easily
Started officially eating solids, lots of bananas-not a good idea she got very constipated
Sleeps through the night for about 10-12 hours, but will get up once every couple nights and need to finish out the night in our bed
Babbles constantly-trying to get her to say mama and dadda, but she just looks at us and smiles
Still very scared of other people holding her, but getting better
We are pretty sure she is teething so we put a Amber necklace on her and it seems to be helping
She is starting to get more hair! I can't wait to see what she will look like with hair, she gets called a boy a lot:( 
She loves to swing!(pics below)

We are just loving every minute with Lillian, well mostly, she still can test our patience, but it is worth it:) I have really been struggling with morning sickness so I am trying really hard to not let it get the best of me so I can take care of Lillian and give her the attention she needs right now. Some days are so hard and I know they will just get harder as she grows and as I grow too:) It will be very interesting. But I am very excited for another baby and for Lillian to have a sibling close in age!
Here are some random pics:

Lilly with her friend Gable. We have already arranged their marriage, just to make things easy:)