Baby #2!

Baby #2 is on the way! And I'm already halfway there!!



We found out we were pregnant a few weeks before we moved. So yes, I have been pregnant for both moves! I was 7.5 weeks this time and 34ish weeks last time. I may just not be remembering clearly, but I think moving at 34 weeks was easier! That may also have something to do with not having a toddler to keep up with while packing/unpacking. I was also VERY nauseous on the flight from MN to TN, NOT fun!!

So far this pregnancy has been very different from Brynne's. I was suuuuuper tired at the very beginning, but was sleeping well (better than normal!). Then we moved and I have not had a good night sleep since! I also had a lot more nausea than I did with Brynne, but I finally realized that I was only nauseous if I was hungry so I made myself eat a LOT. Now I have no issues, hungry or not. I am not feeling this baby move very much, even when I'm specifically looking for it. I felt Brynne a lot and from pretty early on. Maybe this will be a chill baby??

As soon as I found out I was pregnant I stopped taking my RA medicine, but am still taking my steroid. I tried tapering down, but could tell I wasn't going to be able to go completely off, so I went back to my normal dose. About a month ago I started having pain in my hips. The point of pain has changed a lot over the last few weeks, but at the moment it is in my sciatic nerve on both hips. I am working on stretching them out, so hopefully I can get rid of this pain!



Brynne knows there is a baby in my belly and is excited, but I don't really think she understands what's going on or what's coming. If you ask her if it's a baby brother or a baby sister she almost always says baby brother. I will probably gets some books about being a big sister and talk about it more once we're closer to my due date.

Overall this pregnancy has gone by super fast! Tomorrow is the big anatomy scan where we can see this baby and hopefully whether it is a he or she!

Even though I haven't updated the blog I have been taking pictures!

I'll be back soon with the gender!

Big Girl Bed!

We have finally moved Brynne out of the crib! At around 37" and 37 lbs. she was more than ready for a bigger bed. We got an antique full size bed from Mimi and Paps that is 80+ years old. The bed is so high off the ground and Brynne moves around so much that we definitely needed a side rail for safety. We have been really talking it up and she has been very excited about it! We had it set up in her room the past couple of days and she has wanted to sleep in it, but we didn't have the sheets washed. Tonight was finally the night she got to sleep in it!








She went down great and fell asleep fairly quickly, so hopefully the rest of the night will go just as well!

Brynne is 2.5!!

I can't believe we will have a three year old in six months! Three seems soooo much older than two!

I won't have official stats because she doesn't go back to the doctor until three, but she is around 36 lbs. and by my measurement, a hair under 37 inches.

Brynne has changed so much in the past six months. Most notably she talks NON STOP! A couple of months before she turned two her vocabulary really took off and it has just kept going and going! She talks all day, recites parts of ALL of her books (which is a lot!), and sings and knows the words to tons of songs! She also pretends to call people on her cell phone all the time and have extensive conversations with them.

She still loves to read all the time too! When we moved here Chris took her to the library and signed her up for a summer reading program. The goal is 20 hours of reading. I only guesstimate, but I'm pretty sure we've already passed that and it doesn't even end until almost the middle of August.

She knows all her upper case letters, some of the lower case, and the sound most of them make. She knows how to spell her first and last name (lucky for her we have such an easy last name!). She can count to 20, sometimes better than others, and recognize many of the number 1-10. I wish I could take credit for this, but I have the great Leap Frog to thank!

She is quite active nowadays. She finally mastered jumping without holding on to anything and shortly after she turned two she turned into a major climber. Thankfully the climbing has calmed down a bit, but still more than before. Some days I wonder where she gets all her energy! I am glad we are in a bigger house now where she has plenty of room to run around and get some of that energy out!

She has some big changes coming, in the next couple of months we will be either converting her crib to a toddler bed or switching her to a full size bed, then we will be (attempting!) potty training shortly after that.

We are also planning to put her in a preschool type program two mornings a week starting this fall. I think she will love it and it will be good for her (and me!).

The biggest change of all will come right around her birthday!

More details coming soon :)


And because I'll never remember this in the future, her schedule is:

Usually wakes sometime between 7-7:30 breakfast

9:45-10 snack

11:45 lunch

1-3:45 nap, then snack at 3:45

5:45 dinner

7:30 bed

This schedule works great most days, but there is usually a day here and there where she doesn't fall asleep for her nap for whatever reason. On those days she happily plays in her crib for "rest" time. It is so fun to hear all the things she says on these days, even though I would prefer she be asleep!

We Moved!

Last month we said goodbye to Minnesota (hopefully for the last time ever!) and moved to North Carolina!

Packing with a toddler... Not fun! My dad and Chris drove the moving truck (with the Maxima towed behind) and the Highlander, they left Friday afternoon and got here Sunday. Friday (the day before we moved) Brynne spent the day with our preacher's family, then that night we spent the night there and she had to sleep in a little bitty pack and play. Saturday we flew to TN, then Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon with Allison and the girls, and Monday we drove eight hours over to NC. It was a crazy few days, but overall Brynne did great with the whole transition.

Chris had the first week we were here off from work and it was great to have some help unloading all the boxes and getting everything put away quickly. I still don't have everything organized the way I would like, but I can't decide how I want it, so for now it stays put! Once I get everything the way I want I will post pictures!

Most of all we are thankful to be so much closer (driving distance!) to all our families! Chris' brother only lives an hour from us and we have already gotten together several times and Brynne talks about them all the time. We haven't made any trips to Tennessee yet, but Brynne and I are planning to go next month!

Easter 2013

We had a busy, but good Easter weekend! Saturday our church had an Easter block party for the community. There were bounce houses, face painting, cookie decorating, a cake walk, and of course an Easter egg hunt.

Brynne LOVED the bounce house! They had a small one for the little kids, but she didn't want anything to do with that one!

 

She didn't want to get out when it was time to leave! Chris was keeping up with her because I was in charge of taking pictures and he had to send someone in to get her! 

 

 

We had to do the egg hunt inside this year since there was still so much snow on the ground!

 

 

Apparently we should have gone over the whole egg hunt concept beforehand because Brynne was not overly interested!

 

 

 

 

There was no Sunday School on Sunday morning, so we were able to take our time getting ready and do Brynne's Easter basket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think she was most excited about the monies for her piggy!

 

 

 

 

We had a great service at church and then spent the rest of the day with the preacher and his family!

 

 

We had Amy take a few family pictures for us.

 

 

Then I snapped a few of Brynne in the dress I made her. She was pretty much over pictures at this point!

 

 

And I forgot to get a full dress shot, but I think I got one on my phone.

 

Now we're getting ready for Granny to get here on Wednesday!!

Quiet Book!

Brynne is loud by nature (thanks Chris :) ) and likes to talk a LOT! It has become quite difficult to keep her contained and quiet during church, so I decided to make a quiet book! There are tons of cute quiet book ideas on Pinterest!

 

The cover, it's not exactly what I wanted, but it'll do for now!

 

 

Count the watermelon seeds, I love watermelons!

 

 

 

The shapes matching page may have some changes soon. I put magnets in the shapes and on the page of the book so they would stay put, but it makes the shapes pretty heavy. It is causing some of them to come off the ribbon, as you can tell if you look close enough at the heart :) I may take all the magnets out and just let her lay them on the right spot.



 

 

Mr. Potato Head, all the body parts are stored in the suitcase.

 

Mrs. Potato Head

 

 

 

Brynne's usual take on the Potato Head, she always puts the shoes and mouths upside down and everything scrunched up at the top!

 

 

 

 

The little chick, pig, and cow are little finger puppets that stick down in the brown pocket. I need a better picture for the peek a boo mittens, but keep forgetting to print one!

 

 

Match the socks

 

 

 

Pull the socks out of the dryer and match them on the other page. They are also held in place with small magnets.

 

 

The flowers go in/out of the vase. And you can put the (fake) coins in the piggy bank. The coins are stored in the little velcro pocket at the bottom.

 

 

Back cover, I plan to write something in the circle, just not sure what yet! I'm thinking my initials.



Overall it was not a hard project, just time consuming! But it doesn't help that we went to TN for 5 weeks when I was half way done and then didn't pull the sewing machine out for 4+ weeks after we got home! I finished it just in time for church this past Sunday. She was not completely quiet, but definitely more quiet than usual so I call it a success!

Brynne is 2!

Today we celebrated Brynne's second birthday (again!)! We had a family birthday a couple of weeks ago while we were in TN and when we got back Allyson (our preacher's daughter) wanted to see Brynne on her birthday, so Amy, Allyson, and Lauren came up for lunch and cupcakes!

Here's the birthday girl!

 

Opening presents in TN.

 

 

Brooke waiting ever so patiently, haha!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to you!

 

 

Cupcake time gone wrong... She grabbed the candles and everyone freaked, so she did too. Never would touch the cupcake after that :(

 

 

 

These are just a few of our attempts at a picture this morning, she was NOT interested!

 

 

Between several Christmases in TN and her birthday in TN, Brynne became very accustomed to presents and points them out everywhere. She saw this one that Allyson and Lauren brought and talked about all during lunch. This was her face when I told her it was hers and she could open it, so cute!

 

 

YAY books!

 

 

Her present from us was a play kitchen and shopping cart. They were both a hit!

 

 

 

 

Sampling what she cooked up!

 

 

Cupcake time! We skipped the candles this time!

 

 

Happy birthday Brynne!! We love you and can't believe you are TWO!