Happy Holidays! And it's a ...

Sorry I've been slacking lately. I'm in a little bit of a funk because Christmas is over. I love the madness of the season and spending time with my family. The relatives left today and I'm back at work (sniff sniff). Every year I tell myself that I'm going to take the week between Christmas and New Years off and every year I don't. I'm really kicking myself this year.

My parents hired a local Santa to come to their house on Christmas Eve and hand out one present to all the kids. Carter is much more aware of Christmas this year and he won't stop talking about Santa Clause so I knew he'd be excited. The minute Santa came to the door, Carter was mesmorized by him. He took Santa's hand and showed him the Christmas tree, and then picked a present up and gave it to Santa. And then it kinda got ugly. Before Santa came to the door, my parents gave Santa one present for each child so that he could hand them out and take pictures with the kids. Carter went first, and when Santa went to pull out the first present Carter's eyes lit up and he reached out to take the present, but it wasn't for him. Santa takes out the next present, and same thing, not for him. By the third present when Santa told Carter it wasn't for him, he was so horrified he ran away sobbing. We felt so horrible. By the time the last present came out, we all excitedly cheered because we thought it must be for him, but as Carter was about to open it, we realized it wasn't for Carter (my parents had put in two presents for someone else and missed Carter accidentally!). Carter started sobbing again and ran away. His feelings were so hurt. We all couldn't help but laugh at the awful mixup. I'm not sure if Carter is still a fan of Santa. Finally my mom ran and got Carter a present to open, but the damage had been done.

Sittin on Santa's lap, but seriously Santa? You couldn't have looked at the camera? Carter was actually looking at the camera for once!

Finally getting his present with tears still in his eyes.

Right before Christmas Eve dinner.

 We had 15 people at my parents house for Christmas who all bring presents for each other. It gets a bit overwhelming. And my parents insist on passing out presents one by one. It takes a few hours to get through them all, but it is so.much.fun.

My instagram pic of our tree on Christmas morning.

Love this picture of Carter. He loved the 99 cent bag of balloons that Santa put in his stocking.
I think it was his favorite toy of the day as expected.

15 weeks, belly is huge but I've lost 10 pounds! It doesn't feel like it though.

Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I forgot to post the gender annoucement. We found out a few days before Christmas that we are expecting a ....

G I R L

I'll post more about the details later, and will hopefully have some pictures to go with it.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Filled With Love Holiday

Shutterfly has elegant holiday invitations for your party.

View the entire collection of cards.

With lots of love,

Michelle, Andy, Carter (and baby!)

June

I was reading up June birth months because I'm into astrology and wanted to find out more about this little bub.

This baby will most likely be a Gemini like myself, like my mother and one of my best friends. There is also avery good chance this baby will be born on mothers birthday.

I learned something very beautiful this morning. The birth flower for the month of June is a Rose.

Image found here.

A rose! I couldn't help my emotions the second I read that and tears started to stream down my face. Something just clicked inside of me. It seems like this past year - losing Rose, TTC, our new baby - has all come together full circle.

Can I tell you something? My mother lost a child before I was born when she was 5 months pregnant. It was a little boy. Years later she met with a psychic and they told her she had lost a little boy, that the timing wasn't right, but he was waiting for the right time to come back to her. She truly believes he came back to her when my brother was born (who is now 17). Do you believe in this? I truly do.

Also, this past May I went and saw a local psychic. She told me she saw some "issues with pregnancy." I told the psychic that I had lost a baby a few months back. She then told me that I would have a healthy pregnancy by the end of year, but that I must wait three months before conceiving because my body was not ready. I didn't want to believe her at the time because we were already trying, but she was right. The fourth cycle that we tried after that meeting resulted in this pregnancy.

I'm starting to let myself believe that maybe everything will be okay this time.

By the way, we found out the gender over the weekend at our early elective gender scan. I will share that news very soon; I want to scan in some of the pictures first.

Randoms

Baby update:

-On Wednesday at 13 weeks 5 days, we had another ultrasound. Yes I've ultrasounds every two weeks since week 7, but after losing a baby in my 2nd trimester it's the least that can be done to ease my fears.

But it was more than just another ultrasound. I found out when I was 14 weeks along that our sweet baby Rose had passed - with no warning. She measured 13 weeks 5 days. I didn't plan on having an ultrasound at exactly 13 weeks 5 days this time, it just happened that way. As you can imagine, I was terrified my world would collapse around me once again, but it didn't. The baby looked great, heart beat of 150.

I've been able to find the baby's heartbeat using my doppler at home every single night as well. Sometimes twice a day. I know it's excessive, I know. Two nights ago as I pushed firmly with my doppler looking for that heart beat, I felt something push back. Not something, but the baby! The baby kicked me! I was shocked. I know what it feels like after having been pregnant before, and that's exactly what it was. I haven't felt it on my own, but I hope I do soon. I didn't start feeling kicks until 20 weeks with Carter, but my placenta was in front of Carter making kicks harder to feel early on.

We were given a 65% guess on the baby's gender! I had an elective scan scheduled for next Friday but I bumped it up to today. The company will do re-scans for free if they can't see the gender the first time so I figured why not.

I had originally planned a fun Christmas morning gender reveal. But I doubt I can wait until Christmas. Aw, oh well.

-I'm a Paper Mama favorite this week for my photo!

Carter in his festive jammies.

-I'm SO excited for Christmas. It's my favorite day of the entire year. As much as I want the day to be here, I'm always sad when it's over. I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait! Okay, that is all.

A Christmas photo from circa 1995 or 1996. I'm on the upper right.

Photo Challenge: Pets

I haven't done one of The Paper Mama's challenges in a while, but I thought I do one this week. This week the challenge is to take a picture of your pet (or any animal). We don't have any pets; my two year-old is all I can handle right now, but I took some pictures of my friends and Mike with their sweet doggies for their holiday card. Amy is 23 weeks pregnant with their baby boy! This one has to be my favorite, and I think it's Amy's too.

Check out Amy's blog post to see some other pictures from the day.

Baby #2: 12 weeks!

How Far Along: 12 weeks 6 days (13 weeks tomorrow, eeeeeek)

Size of baby: The baby is almost 3 inches long. Wow, that seems pretty big to me. I love all three inches of you baby.


Gender: Still too early but I'm feeling a boy vibe. I'm not good with gender guessing though. I was sure my friend Amy was having a girl, but she's having a B-O-Y. Also, the Chinese Gender Calendar has always been wrong for me until I read that you have to use your lunar age. I used my lunar age, and it was correct for Carter and Rose, it also predicts this little one is a boy. (And Amy, I checked, it's right for you too).

Apparently I like to waste money because I shelled out $35 for this thing:



Taken at 10 weeks like the directions state. I've read that Intelligender can be wildly inaccurate, but I couldn't help myself.

I'm scheduling an elective gender ultrasound in my 15th week. I know a lot of people who found at at 15 weeks, and I would like to be one of them. I don't think I can wait until my 19 week anatomy scan. Also, I'll be 15 weeks right before Christmas and thought it would be fun to find out and announce on Christmas morning. If the baby cooperates.

Movement: Too early.


What I miss: Nothing.


Cravings: Italian food. Food in general. Food that is not salad.


Symptoms: I'm feeling pretty good this week, my fatigue has eased up and I feel semi-normal (which also scares me).


Best Moment of this week: My successful NT scan last Thursday! The baby measured 1 day ahead of my LMP, no more measuring behind. The Nuchal Fold measured 1.4mm which was spot on, and the nasal bone was present. Heart rate was 164 bpm.

I'm starting my 13th week tomorrow and the anxiety is setting in. I was 14 weeks when I found out we had lost Rose, and she passed at 13 weeks 5 days based on measurements. Please God let me get through the next two weeks. Please let me take home a healthy baby.

Happy freaking Holidays everyone!