25 Weeks!

How far along? 25 Weeks 5 days pregnant with baby girl #2! 100 Days to go!

Baby's Development: My uterus is about the size of a soccer ball right now and baby is 9 inches and more than a pound and a half….about the size of a rutabaga…whatever that is! Her skin is starting to turn pinker because capillaries are starting to form under the skin and fill with blood. Blood vessels are also developing in the baby’s lungs.  Nostril are also starting to open up this week and allows little one to practice taking breaths.

Maternity clothes? Leggings for life! Seriously...isn't it time for spring yet?

Weight Gain? I've made it up to pre-pregnancy weight! woohoo!

Am I Showing? Yep!

Sleep? I'm waking up about 2-3 times a night to use the restroom, but luckily I am able to get back to sleep fairly easily.  About once a week, I wake up at 3:00ish am and can't get back to sleep for a few hours. The cold is also making me super congested so it's hard to breathe sometimes.  It could be (and will probably get) much worse, so I'll take it.

Exciting Moment? The other night, Matt had his hand on my belly because Stella was having a dance party, and Sophia came over and put her hand on my tummy too and said "sissy." It was super sweet and luckily Matt got a picture of it.

Gender: Girl!

Stretch marks? Still good here...applying my bio oil every morning!

What do I miss? Not feeling super duper full after two bites of dinner.  Everyone jokes about how much pregnant women eat.  You know who eats more? Nursing women! You're hungry literally every minute of the day, but the nice thing is your organs aren't being squished, so you have room for everything! Plus, you have to eat extra calories...it's pretty glorious!

How have I been feeling?  Pretty good still, thank God! I am noticing that it's getting more uncomfortable to carry Sophia around for long periods of time. :( Imagine wearing a hoodie and having a bowling ball (that wiggles) in your hoodie pocket PLUS carrying a 27lb toddler.  I'm sure Stella isn't as heavy as a bowling ball yet, but you get the idea. I get pretty tired by the end of the day, too. 

Movement: ALLLL the time still! I love it.  Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and lay back down to sleep, I can feel her wiggling around in there and it keeps me up because it's so fun to feel! The movements are definitely moving away from cute little pops to more forceful rolls as she gets bigger. 

Food cravings: I've rediscovered my sweet tooth...

Food aversions: None anymore, thankfully!

Rings on or off? Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Feeling great!

Baby "To Do" List: We ordered our double stroller and got it in yesterday! I am sooo excited about it. We went with the City Select double stroller because I found an AMAZING deal on one during President's day!

I love that I can use it now with Sophia and add the second seat to use it with Stella too.  I told Matt it's like the Cadillac of strollers.  I know we will get tons of use out of it.  Thankfully, Sophia is pretty good about riding in the stroller, so it's definitely going to come in handy. Next on our list is the dresser and glider/rocking chair and then we will be all set to start putting it allll together (Matt is really excited about this, let me tell you. :/)

Comparison: 25 weeks with Sophia HERE.

Week 23 bumpdate!

How far along? 23 Weeks 2 weeks pregnant with baby girl #2!

Baby's Development: Baby Stella is a little over a pound, the size of a mango and growing right along! In the next 4 weeks, her weight (and mine) will double! You can now hear baby's heartbeat through a stethoscope and her skin is reddish in color due to the developing blood vessels. 

Maternity clothes? I found my favorite pair of jeans from last time (they were in my closet the whole time..oops!) so when I want to "dress up" I can wear those! Most days it's leggins, tank top, and a sweater.  I am in a clothing rut because I am SO.OVER. the cold weather.  I just want to wear dresses and tan tops, and capris and feel the sun on my skin. 

Weight Gain? Still about 2 lbs below pre-preg weight.  At this point with Sophia, I had begun to gain some, so I asked my OB if it was something I should be concerned about.  She said I'm measuring on track and baby is growing just fine, so she's not even worried about it.

Am I Showing? Yep!

Sleep? Pretty good for the most part! There are times when I wake up and my hips hurt, so I have been putting a pillow in between my knees, which has helped!

Exciting Moment? We had another Drs appointment yesterday.  Everything looked great and her HR was measuring in the 130's.  It's always been in the 150's, but my OB said that it's totally normal for their HR to get lower the bigger they get.

Gender: Girl! Stella Cate...I love having a name picked out and being able to refer to her by her name.  I have been trying to get Sophia to say Stella, but every time she says "bebe" or "sissy" instead...which is equally as cute!

Stretch marks? Still good here.  My stomach doesn't feel as stretched out as last time (yet) so hopefully I will escape them again! Wishful thinking? Maybe...

What do I miss? Not much right now.  I would love a glass of wine, which is funny because I'm not a big drinker not pregnant.  I guess now since I can't have it I want it?

How have I been feeling? I'm finally feeling great again! For the most part, I am sleeping pretty well and my energy levels are a lot better.  I still have to sit and rest sometimes if I overdo it, but I am feeling a lot better overall. I do get out of breath pretty easily, but I can handle that!

Movement:She is all.over.the.place.  Seriously.  I am kinda worried about when she actually gets here because I feel like she is NONSTOP.  If I wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she is moving.  All day long she is moving.  I had my phone laying on my belly and she kicked it off! I tried to video the kicks, because you can definitely see them from the outside now, but of course as soon as I hit record she stopped...little stinker.

Food cravings: My morning coffee, chocolate milk, sweet tea, and PBJ sandwiches with potato chips.  Pretty sure I would eat those normally, so I'm not sure if I would consider that a "pregnancy" craving.

Food aversions: None anymore, thankfully!

Rings on or off? Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time: Feeling great!

Looking forward to:  Matt's parents are coming to visit on Thursday and their bringing Stella's crib with them! Woohoo! I can't wait to get it put together.  Still on our list is a matress, a dresser, a glider, and a double stroller. In the next few months, we'll need to get the swing put together, too.  I went through Sophia's old clothes and washed/hung them in Stella's closet.  It's crazy to me how small they are!

Comparison: 23 weeks with Sophia HERE.

20 Weeks with #2

How far along? 20 weeks 1 day...I'm really on the ball with updates, huh? Maybe we'll just shoot for monthly updates this time around.  ;)

Baby's Development: Baby is measuring about 6.5 inches crown to rump and as long as a banana! I had my anatomy scan at 18 weeks 5 days and she measured right on track at 8 ozs! The anatomy scan went perfectly and we are so relieved to know that everything looked great! Unfortunately, Sophia came down with a fever the night before, so Matt had to stay home with her so she wouldn't infect any other pregnant mamas with her cooties. ;) Her uterus is fully formed at this point and she has about 7 million eggs in her tiny ovaries, but will be born with about 2 million, which is all the eggs she will ever have.

 

Maternity clothes? Yep...leggings all day every day. 

Weight Gain? Just like last time, I've been slow to gain weight.  I got weighed at Urgent Care this past Saturday for some sinus gunk and I am still 2 lbs below pregnancy weight.  I know that it'll all catch up with me in the end, so I'm not too worried about it.

Am I Showing?  I would think so!

Sleep? It's been pretty good the past few weeks, but the past couple of days it's sucked big time.  Stuffy head/cough/sore throat does not make sleeping easy.  Unfortunately the dr said antibiotics won't help so I get to wait it out.  yay.

Exciting Moment? We found out and announced that Whitman #2 is a GIRL!

Gender: Girl! Stella Cate.

Stretch marks? Nope..I thought I saw a few but it was just from my clothes.  However, it did prompt me to start with the stretch mark cream.  I use Mustela stretch mark cream.

What do I miss? Right now, I miss not feeling like a walking snot bucket.

How have I been feeling? Start to get some energy back and my nausea is beginning to go away.  I still take Diceglis as needed, but ever since about 18-19 weeks I havent needed to take it as much.  It makes me sleepy when I do take it, so I still take a nap while Sophia sleeps during the day.  This pregnancy has been almost identical to Sophia's. My nails and hair look amazing, my face is breaking out like a 12 year old, my leg hair has been slower to grow (SCORE!), and I've had mostly the same food aversions.

Movement: Oh yes! This is one active little girl and I love it.  She rolls around and kicks and fist pumps all day long.  On Jan 4th, the day I turned 19 weeks, Matt was able to feel some kicks for the first time.  It happened at 19 weeks with Sophia, too!

Food cravings: I think by this point with Sophia, I was having some cravings.  This time around...nothing.  Like seriously nothing sounds good.  Food is more of a necessity at this point.

Food aversions:No real aversions..just don't want any of it!

Rings on or off? Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I’m going to go with “fiesty"....and "needy" according to my husband! ;)

Looking forward to: Getting some things for this little girl.  I feel kinda guilty because at this point in my pregnancy with Sophia, I'm pretty sure we had her nursery painted and all the furniture all set up.  This time? Nothing.  We have a few random things that I've picked up here and there, but nothing big.  We need her crib, dresser and glider for the nursery.  We also need our double stroller.  I guess that's not too much when I write it all down.  Luckily, we have a lot of stuff from Sophia we can still use. Second kid problems, I guess! I need to start scouring Craigslist for some nursery furniture soon!

Comparison: 20 weeks with Sophia HERE.

It's a GIRL!

Matt and I really wanted to be able to reveal the sex as a surprise to our families on Christmas day.  The only problem was that our anatomy scan wasn't scheduled until after Christmas.  When I went in for my 12 week appointment, my OB told me they also offer gender scans starting at 15 weeks.  I was tempted but also nervous since we found out early with Sophia, and we all know how that all turned out! We decided to go for it and felt a little better since it was my actual OBGYN's office and not a boutique ultrasound place.

We had our appointment the morning of December 12 and I was 15 weeks 5 days.  We didn't tell anyone that we were finding out early because we wanted it to REALLY be a surprise on Christmas! I was honestly convinced it was a girl very early on.  This pregnancy is practically identical to Sophia's, other than my morning sickness being a lot worse.  I had a dream that Sophia was a girl the day before our first ultrasound and this time around, I had a girl dream pretty early on which solidified it for me.  I have been trying to prepare Matt for two girls every since.  ;) His tradeoff is that he gets to buy a gun for every girl we end up having.

The baby was pretty active the entire time, and although it took about 15-20 mins, the tech was able to tell pretty positively that it was a GIRL! Sophia kept looking at the screen and saying "bebe" over and over again.  We decided on the name Stella Cate! I am SO excited for Sophia to have a sister and I love the thought of them sharing a monogram.  Plus, we get to use all of Sophia's monogrammed clothes again. ;)

On Christmas day, we waited until all the gifts were passed out and then had all the grandparents sit on the couch together. We gave each one a gift to open.  The grandmas opened theirs first.  I made two ornaments with pink glitter and Stella's monogram on the front and a "It's a girl" ribbon at the top.  Everyone was so surprised!

Next, we had the Grandpas open up their gifts to announce the name. Because we're classy people, we decided to use bottles of Stella Artois beer. ;) I used some pink Washi tape to cover up the Artois and wrote her middle name, Cate instead.  They loved it!

We LOVED finding out early and are so excited to meet Stella Cate come May! And don't worry...the anatomy scan a few weeks later confirmed she's still a girl.  ;)

16 Weeks BUMPdate!

Well I guess this is as good of a time as any to start these.  I started a lot earlier with Sophia, but I have been a lot sicker this time around.  I am finally starting to feel human (I’m even caught up on laundry for the first time since…September?) so I wanted to get the ball rolling before I got too far behind. 

I have loved being able to look back at my blog posts from 2 years ago at the similarities and differences and I know that I will want a reminder of this pregnancy as well!  I initially stopped blogging because I accidentally erased Sophia’s 6 month update and got so pissed at myself that every time I went to redo it, I would get angry.  haha I still have unpublished posts from some of her later months that I will eventually go back and add pictures to, but that 6 month one was so long and in depth it still makes me angry that it’s gone. 

So, without further ado…here is my first bumpdate for Whitman baby #2!

I DO plan on doing the chalkboards again, but it's not happening this week...

How far along? 16 weeks 3 days…I am pregnant at almost the same time of year as I was with Sophia, except I am about 4 weeks behind this time around.

Baby's Development:  Baby W #2 is about 5 in. long and weighs about 3-5 oz…about the size of an avocado! In the next few weeks, baby will DOUBLE its weight…GROWTH SPURT! The tiny bones in baby’s ears are in place making it likely that baby can hear my voice. Some studies have found that babies that are sung to while they are in the womb will recognize the same tune after they’re born. He or she has been getting many rounds of Christmas songs when I sing to Sophia before her nap and bedtime. Baby now has both eyebrows and eyelashes, too!

Maternity clothes? Since I stay at home with Sophia now, my clothes consist of leggings and tunics and it is GLORIOUS!

Weight Gain? Not sure…the scale needs batteries and I keep forgetting to buy them.

Am I Showing? I think I’ve got a little bump going on!

Sleep? Pretty good except that I am getting kinks in my right shoulder when I sleep that are causing me to wake up with headaches in the mornings.

Exciting Moment?  I’m pretty pumped about Christmas coming and Matt’s holiday block leave starting next week!

Gender: Our anatomy scan is scheduled for Jan 2nd!

Stretch marks? None yet...I escaped without any my first time around.  I am crossing my fingers that it will be the same this time too!

What do I miss? Having energy!

How have I been feeling? Tired! I nap when Sophia does most days but I’m still pretty exhausted.  I’m not as nauseous anymore, but I am still taking Diceglis for nausea at night and most mornings.  I think that also contributes to being as tired as I am (and probably why I’ve been sleeping good at night!).  I’m hoping to not need it anymore in the next few weeks, though.

Movement: I have been feeling little pops for about 1.5 weeks now and I love it! It’s still sometimes in the “baby or gas” stage but sometimes I can definitely tell it’s the baby!

Food cravings:  Nothing really except coffee in the morning.  I’m not normally a coffee drinker, but it just tastes so darn good.

Food aversions: Pasta sauce, chicken, strong smelling foods.

Rings on or off? Still on

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I’m going to go with “fiesty”

Looking forward to:  Christmas!

Comparison: 16 weeks with Sophia HERE.

Sophia, you are FIVE months old!

I know, I know...I'm a few months behind with these updates.

Sophia’s 5th month was from September 1st to September 30th and she turned 5 months old on October 1st. Being born on the first of the month sure makes keeping track of these months a little easier!

 Weight: We technically were at the dr in September for her 4 month shots and she was 15.7 lbs. She doesn't go back to the Dr until November for her next set of shots, so we will see where she is then!

Health: We have still been relatively healthy this month, thankfully.  We had some issues with her left eye for a while.  We went to the Dr. twice..the first time they said it was a big bite, and the second time they said it was a clogged tear duct and gave us some ointment.  Can I tell you how difficult it is to put ointment on a 5 month old? Much less in her eye? Yea..very! It ended up just kinda going away on it's own, so I'm not really sure what it was!

Development/Social: Sophia started rolling over this month! I read that most kids roll over from belly to back first, but she did the opposite and did back to belly first.  I took this as a sign that it was time to drop the swaddle because I was nervous she would roll over onto her belly and get stuck. It was great while it lasted!

Right after she rolled over!

Sleep: Although I was dreading dropping her swaddle, it wasn't as bad.  On September 11, we initially started by just dropping it during her last nap and still swaddling her in the morning and afternoon, but we didn't have much success with it.  I figured if she didn't get good sleep because she wasn't used to not being swaddled, only her last nap would be messed up.

I think she got confused in the evening, so I gradually weaned her by doing one arm for a couple of days for ALL naps.  On September 14, we did 2 arms out for a couple of days for ALL naps. 

 

Then on September 16th, she was swaddle free! We completely dropped it starting at night, since nighttime sleep is her deepest sleep.

She loved being swaddled, but she definitely loves not being swaddled, too because she can get to her fingers easier.  She definitely started sucking her first two fingers this month to self-soothe.

The paci she doesn't care much about and will take it or leave it. We also noticed she is a WILD sleeper! I would find her turned sideways and upside down when I woke her up in the mornings! Not only that, but she has also turned into a tummy sleeper.  As soon as her back hits the mattress, she rolls over to her tummy or sometimes her side. Sometimes she is almost face down!  It freaked me out at first, but I read not to roll them over because once they roll themselves over, it's ok.

She still sleeps great from about 7:30 at night to about 7:45 in the morning with no wake-ups.

Since we moved to the 4 hour schedule last month, she gets three naps a day.  The first two are right at 2 hours long and the last one is about 45 mins. or so. Sometimes she won't take the third nap if we are out at dinner or whatever, but it doesn't happen often because she gets cranky if she misses it, so I know she still needs it.

Diet: Still 100% breastmilk.  She gets 4 bottles a week...two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday when she stays home with Matt and drinks about 6 oz. each time. 

Always a happy girl after nursing

Clothes: Definitely in all 6 month clothes and even some of those are snug..we are starting to get some 9 month clothes for her.

Getting one last wear out of this little outfit.

Baby Gear Loves: She is still loving her exersaucer! We also got her this seat for me to use with her at work.  She tolerates it for about 15-20 mins and then she's over it.

 
Post Partum:  Things are going great on my side. I am always conscious of my water intake during the day since I am nursing.  If I don't get enough water, I get dehydrated and get a headache.  I can also tell a difference in my production that day, so I make sure to always carry a full bottle of water with me wherever I go! I'm also not loosing as much hair anymore, but now I am in the lovely "baby bangs" stage where it's starting to grow back in some so I have little wispies everywhere! Lovely!

Mom Chop!

Mommy and Daddy also both got new cars this month! When we were car shopping last year, I ended up getting a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but I really had my heart set on a 4-door Jeep Wrangler.  We couldn't find any good deals so we went with the Grand Cherokee.  We found a great deal on a Wrangler that everything I was looking for, so we traded in Matt's truck and got a lower monthly payment! Score! We still had my Grand Cherokee and Matt wanted to have a truck for his painting side business, so he then took my Grand Cherokee and traded it in for a Toyota Tundra...also got a lower monthly payment! Sounds like a lot of back and forth, but we ended up saving money in the long run, so it was definitely worth it!

A few more pictures from this month: