An Expanding World

Anna-Kate, in the last month or so, has really surprised us with all the things she's been learning and saying. She has even given up on Elmo being her one-and-only. She has learned to enjoy Dora and Mickey Mouse as well. The most fun has been listening to the funny things and "old" things she's started saying, like:

"Dora has purple backpack; I have green pink backpack."

Anna-Kate do you want to get some yogurt raisins? "Yes, I buy them. That is a great idea!"

Walking through the aisles of some children's clothes, I asked Anna-Kate what she thought of the dresses we were passing. "They are so cute!" Pointing to a little boy's outfit I asked Anna-Kate if that one was for her. "No, that for Jordan. That for John-David."

"Momma marry Daddy." That's right, Mommy did marry daddy. "Anna-Kate marry Daddy too?" No, just Mommy marry Daddy. "Opa marry Oma?" That's right. Who married Gramps? "Gramps marry Susan." Yes, Gramps married Grandma.

"Thanks!" or "Thank you so much!"

Anna-Kate, can you count your fingers? As she holds up one hand and getting louder with each number she says, "I have 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 fingers!"

"Ta Da!"

*Disclaimer: Okay, so this post is probably funnier to me. I get to see her facial expressions and hear the different tones that go with these quotes. The pictures of this cheesy grin are too cute, though, so I'll keep this post. ;)

And in 14 Hours

In 12 hours, you can drive to DC and back, talk to a shady dealer about a dirty car, and drive back.

In 14 hours, you can drive back to northern Virginia, talk to an actual legit dealer, crush on a car, BUY IT!!, and drive back!

Did you catch that? We bought a new car!

a 2007 Hyundai Veracruz

Satin Beige with tan interior

We were looking for a vehicle with a third row. Love that this one has a split bench in the third row. Pretty much just love this car!

A Daily Happening

When I hear Will pull up, I normally say to Anna-Kate, "Guess who's home." For the last week or more, this is the scene that has taken place.

Me: "Guess who's home."

Anna-Kate: "I need say hey daddy," as she runs to the door.

Absolutely melts my heart!

misQuote of the Day

Will and I have been mentioning Anna-Kate's new baby brother or sister to her. Her new favorite comment is:
"I have baby boy in belly. My belly bigger."
I don't think she quite has quite gotten what is going on yet.

Imagination

Hey Momma! I am like a lion.

What to do with 12 Hours

If you have 12 hours, what do you do? watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy? go to work? enjoy a lazy day at home? ... Let me tell you what Will and I did with 12 hours last Wednesday:

At 8 am, we drove away from Will's parents house. We had dropped off Anna-Kate with her Oma and Opa for the day. We started driving, 5 hours later we arrived at our destination: Falls Church, VA. We hadn't eaten lunch. We were too focused on our goal.

We were there to look at a car. We have decided it is time to have two cars that Anna-Kate and baby #2 can ride in. We saw online what we have been wanting. We called the night before to make sure it was still there. We were both a little nervous but definitely excited!

After 5 hours in the car, we arrive at the car lot. The lot is so small. They have to move cars just to get out the one we want to look at and probably test drive. When we start looking at it, it is DIRTY! There are cigarette burns by the driver's seat, black tracks on the trunk space and rear seat that is folded down, permanent scratches on the insides of the doors. When I ask the salesman if cleaning the car, will help the smoker's smell, he denies that the car even smells like smoke. Uuummm, did you see the cigarette burns? He tries to backtrack several times and explain away the dirty appearance of the car.

Are you going to see a picture of our new car at the bottom of this post? NO! I told Will I didn't want to buy from this guy out of principle, not wanting to support such a shady deal.

We left the dealer and went to lunch. Then drove into town. Will wanted to stop at one store. Right before we get there, it starts raining buckets. We get a bit turned around but find the store. The store doesn't have what we hoped. So we get back in the car. It is time to start the long trek home. It is still pouring rain! On our way out of town, we literally drive by the Washington Monument. The monument on one side with the Mall on the other side. The rain is coming down so hard that we can't see the Capitol Building.

The drive is pretty easy, except we did the classic: "let's wait and see what the next exit has before we decide what to eat." Before we knew it, there were no more exits with food. We ate at 7:30, 20 min from home.

The moral of the story:
In 12 hours, from Raleigh, you can drive to DC, spend 2.5 hours, and still make it home.

12 Weeks

So, here begins belly shots. The baby is slowly beginning to make its existence known. I think this is also evidence of the statement that with second pregnancies your belly pops out quicker. Compare this picture to my picture at 16 weeks with Anna-Kate. There is no pregnancy update, just a growing baby bump.

A Reunion and a Promise

Our View

in Gatlinburg, TN for a family reunion with Will's mom's family

A Rainbow in this setting

quickly reminds me of God's Goodness

Daddy at the Pool

Jump

in the water

and splash back out

Aren't daddies fun?!

10 Weeks

I am now 10 weeks pregnant. The ultrasound yesterday, where I got to see the little peanut with arms and legs, reminds me what a sweet time this is! (pictures below) Some of the other details remind why this process is not always sweet.

The baby is perfect! The doctor said she could see the nasal bone, which is a good sign that the baby is growing right on track. It makes me so excited to go to the big ultrasound appt (some time late August, early September)!

Like all moms pregnant with their second baby, I feel like my tummy has popped out way before it did the first time. I took a belly shot at 9 weeks, where I think my belly is about as big as it was at 16 weeks with AK. But, I don't want my blog-friends to laugh, so I will wait a little longer before I actually post a belly pic. (It is true that several of my shorts and skirts don't button.)

I said last time in the "8 weeks" post that I feel better this pregnancy than I did while carrying AK. That is NOT true!!! This pregnancy is at least as rough, maybe worse. With AK I took Zofran around the clock for nauseous and yucky sickness. This time Zofran hasn't touched it. The day after I wrote the 8 weeks post, I stopped counting at 12 times getting sick. (More than you blog readers wanted to know?)

The trick this time has been prilosec for acid reflux. Once the doctor doubled the dose for me, I really am starting to feel a bit better. My biggest frustration is that I am guessing at what food will aggravate the reflux and which food will be okay. If I guess wrong, ...uuummm.... I will spare you those details. So instead of enjoying pizza and nachos and icecream, I am living on wheat thins and peanut butter toast.

For you Atrium girls (that is my doctor's office), this is one of the many reasons we love Dr. Gray: I was describing how pitiful I feel and how I was trying not to be selfishly depressed by how little food sits well, Dr. Gray said, "Girl, with my first baby, I drank so much sweet tea that I thought my baby might come out looking like a Skittle. But I didn't care. We do what works, so you eat what feels good right now." This coming from the doc that is nervous about the size of my first baby! So funny, love her! especially since I feel like that was my permission to keep drinking sweet tea, the only beverage that sounds good and sits well. (Yes, that means for this baby I haven't had any coke zero or coffee, two of my biggest weaknesses!)

Dr. Gray did say that at my next appt at 14 weeks we will schedule the early gestational diabetes test. With that, enough pregnancy news. Enjoy these early shots of our little one!

8 weeks

10 Weeks

The baby spent most of the ultrasound with his or her hand by her face.

Look at that 3.25 cm cutie!

There's that strong heartbeat!

the 4th

I meant to do a good job taking pictures of our 4th....instead I took these few. We did have a great day. Will and I took Anna-Kate to the pool for the first time that morning. So fun to be a family at the pool. That evening we spent at Opa and Oma's house. Love seeing the cousins play! and I am enjoying becoming a part of the aunt/uncle group. I have so many memories of meals at Grandma's, playing with the cousins, and dodging the aunts/uncles saying "sshhh!" I am loving watching AK make her cousin-memories! Here are the few pictures I took:

Opa, Daddy, and Anna-Kate grilling the burgers and hotdogs.

How fun is this! Opa took Camden fishing early that morning; they caught 21, threw 6 of them back. Opa cleaned them, and then Oma fried them as part of our supper on the 4th. (Doesn't that story make having a son sound fun?!)

Anna-Kate has always been fascinated with Uncle David. But, she seldom lets him get close. This night was the first night she ran up and gave him a hug. Too cute

Are there words for how cute this picture is?!

All Anna-Kate has been able to talk about is ice cream cones. "I have icecream cone. I need more icecream cone. Anderson need more too? Camden need more too? Opa fix icecream cone."