Happy Hump Day

Here it is, Wednesday again. I don't know about you, but this summer is flying by for me. I can't believe it's almost August....and yet I am excited for August to be here. August will be a great month.... my birthday is August 9, we have our 20 week ultrasound for Baby 2.0 on August 12, reach our halfway through this pregnancy milestone.... the state fair starts this month which we always LOVE taking Bella too (she asks to go to it year round;)) AND... this is a big August for us too because at the end of the month Bella starts pre-school. Hard to believe, huh? We are starting her in a montessori school and are very excited about. Those that don't know much about the montessori programing-- they take kids at their own pace, and while there is a curriculum, it is a little different from your standard school day. I am excited to see how she grows and learns from the experience when she starts on August 30th :) We have back to school night and parents night in the coming weeks too-- so that is exciting:)

Yesterday, I finally heard back from the Castleton Ultrasound technician. She admitted she wasn't sure on my previous ultrasound guess (kinda annoyed me that she would have guessed at all at that point...) but that I could come back in yesterday, a whole week later in my pregnancy to try again. So on short notice, off Bella and I went to see the baby again. He has definitely grown in a week, it was crazy to see! My placenta is anterior :(. What this means, is that baby implanted on my tummy side of my uterus--so the placenta acts as a cushion between baby and my belly...which may make it take longer for me to feel those large noticeable thumps. I am still feeling flutters, and have been for awhile now-- but I don't feel huge large kicks yet..and thought I might. I first started feeling Bella around now, and REALLY felt her for sure by 18.5 weeks...Jerry felt her shortly thereafter. So, I hope having this placenta doesn't take that fun away for us--because it is truly the best part of being pregnant for me!!





As for gender guess--she said she was much more confident in a boy guess. Not 100%, but about 85% sure. Those are pretty good odds-- but I am still not painting any walls blue. We'll refer to this baby as a "he" for now and we have picked out a boy name for him-- Seth David Leonards. We chose Seth simply because we both like it-- no real reason to it. David is my father in law's first name-- and Jerry really wanted to follow the tradition of using the paternal grandfather's name in the first son's name. (Jerry is named after hid grandfather on his Dad's side). We like it though :) I still can't wait for my 20 week scan on August 12. Not only will we get gender confirmation for sure, but we'll be able to see him for a longer period of time...estimate his growth and make sure everything is healthy at this point. I am really looking forward to that day.




In other news this week so far.... I made it to the gym on Monday and was able to jog 3 miles in about 33 minutes-- soooo much slower than my normal pace but I'm still happy I can still do this comfortably 17 weeks pregnant. Yesterday I took a rest day because I was really pretty sore. Instead of hitting the gym, I took Bella downtown to the Childrens Museum and she had a blast. She played hard for 2 hours and it was really fun to spend some time together doing something fun--just Mommy and Bella :) We need more times like that and I need to make it happen. She is growing up too fast and it's easy to let life and work get in the way.

We are still working on the house and getting it ready for the market. I've now taken photos of the kitchen for the listing (nice and clean), as well as Bella's room since those room needed the least amount of painting done. Jerry filled in the holes in the walls in the living/dining room and entry way Sunday night and I started taping off trim and then last night he started painting. He painted for like 4 hours straight and got a lot done-- but there is still so much to do! We've decided to pay the guy who helped with my studio space to come and paint the 4 bathrooms in the house as well as the laundry room. Although those 5 rooms are the smallest in the house-- they are tedious, so I think this will be helpful in speeding up the process, and we're still saving money by doing most of the work ourselves. Poor Jerry was really tired last night but I can already tell a difference with the fresh paint even though it's not done. We are both very determined to make this move happen before the holidays if possible!

Excessive Heat, Workotus and Hopes for House

I am chatty this week and had some news to share...

First of all we are in this mega heat wave in Indiana and it sucks as much as the dead of winter. We have to keep the shades drawn in our house or it quickly gets up to like 80 degrees upstairs and you start sweating sitting in your own house. Nothing fun about this. I much prefer sunshine and warmth, but I also prefer to not feel like I am going to breathe in poisonous gas when I walk outdoors. It's even been too hot to take Bella to the pool--mostly because I don't trust either one of us to know when are needing water or a break ... not to mention how freakishly crowded the pools are in weather like this so I am sure germs are everywhere. So needless to say, I think we are all ready for a bit of relief in the temperature department. Mid-80s would be nice.

I'm asked a lot about my workouts when I'm pregnant so I thought I'd write out what I typically do during a week. Here is what my workouts look like most weeks when I'm not stuck at home with a sick kid. If I am stuck at home with a sick kid, I won't take her to the gym child care-- so I'll improvise by doing a workout video at home. I have some Turbojam, Turbokick, TaeBO, and Cathe DVDs that still get my heart pumping, keep my sweating and I can do them all during pregnancy. Here goes my schedule these days:

Monday: Turbokick or cardio DVD at home (depending on work schedule)
Tuesday: Full body weights and 30-40 mins on either treadmill or elliptical
Wednesday: Usually a rest day
Thursday: Turbokick (best class of the week;))
Friday: Full body weights and 30-40 minutes on either treadmill or elliptical
Sat: Rest or Turbokick (depends on work schedule--I only take one rest day on the weekend, so if I don't make it Saturday, I go Sunday)
Sun: Rest or Weights & 30 min cardio workout on elliptical


My work schedule makes it tough sometimes but I always make time. Sometimes that means working out at home or going at a different time of the day then I prefer-- but making the time always makes me feel so much better :)


HOUSE UPDATES: We got some good news yesterday in terms of financing, so we are keeping our fingers crossed it works out. If it does, as long as we find renters for our home, we could potentially move before the baby is born!! This would be so awesome. So please keep your fingers crossed for us :) IN preparation, we are packing and de-cluttering majorly. We have taken 2 truckloads of stuff to my in-laws house for storage and still have more to go, as well as some trash and then cleaning/organizing. Poor Jerry is stuck doing most of the grunt work since I'm pregnant and when it comes time to do paint touch ups, I feel bad I can't help much-- but we are determined to get it done!

No Wrong Answers

One my friends posted on my FB wall after I announced our gender of baby 2.0 on Monday... "Isn't it nice when there are no wrong answers??".. and that is so true!! What a great phrase :)

However, I've been stricken with doubt and uncertainty since then. I have shown my ultrasound photos to several ultrasound technicians.... and *all* of them have said they either couldn't tell one way or the other, and that they would actually sway girl with the pictures we have. They all said, of course they weren't there... but I'll be honest, I was watching the screen very carefully the whole time we were there and I never saw an obvious penis like I have seen on other ultrasound photos. I know 16 weeks may be a tad early, but I have seen MANY MANY ultrasound photos at 16 weeks with very obvious genders seen. This has left me extremely frustrated. I paid to have this scan done, and I expected to know. I feel like the tech rushed me in and out because I was the last appointment of the day and gave me a guess to give me a guess, but really did not get a good look. She could very well be right, but I can't help the uncertainty I have been left with ... and it's honestly worse than not knowing.

Nothing is going to change the fact that we are having a baby -- and that itself is a blessing. It won't change the fact that this baby will be loved and have an AWESOME big sister :) I just got super excited to *know* a little more about the baby and start planning names etc. It has played with my already sensitive pregnant emotions a bit.

I put a call into the ultrasound place I went-- but she is closed for the rest of the week. I was nice, but just explained my issue and asked if there was any way they would let me come in for a clearer shot. If they say no, we will just wait until the OB anatomy scan on Aug 12-- which I'm looking forward to anyway because it's a much longer and more detailed look at our baby :)

So for now--I am not 100% sure we are having a boy. But I am 100% sure we are having a baby... and that my friends is definitely not a wrong answer ;)

Early Gender Peek

We had a big day yesterday. We had an early gender ultrasound for an early guess at Baby 2.0's gender! Everything points to BOY at this point...although the tech wasn't 100%, she was pretty sure. We do have another anatomy scan on August 12th, so we'll know for sure then :)





I have to admit Jerry and I were both SHOCKED! I think deep down we both thought we were having another girl, but we are very excited. As one of my friends posted on facebook yesterday... "It's really great when there are no wrong answers!" :):)

We did go after the scan and went to Babies R Us. I had to get SOMETHING for the little guy, so we got a few things..keeping the tags on for now, just in case ;)




We are now trying to pick a name. We have it narrowed down, and will probably have one soon. We know we want to use "David" as a middle name. It's tradition in Jerry's family to name the first son after the grandfather. I didn't want my son's name to be chosen for me, but we did compromise and agreed to use it as a middle name. It's a good name anyhow, so it doesn't bother me and I think it will go well with just about any first name we choose :)

We also spent the entire weekend at home with a sick little girl. Poor Bella came down with a fever Friday night and we couldn't get it to go down no matter what we did. She was such a sweet girl though and never complained about anything. She is finally feeling better after 4 days and is now back to doing this to the poor dog:



However, it has put quite the damper on my workout schedule not being able to take Bella to the gym. I did a video at home Saturday, made it to the gym on Sunday alone... did a video yesterday and today will end up being a rest day. Hope to make it back to the gym tomorrow.

It also about a MILLION degrees here this week. Excessive heat warnings and a pregnant Mandy do not mix. And of course this has meant no walks and such too. UGH!

Reality

So I had a blast of reality yesterday when I put on my new maternity workout top that I just got from Motherhood Maternity. Seeing it come in the package, I thought for sure it was going to be too big... well, uh, not so much. It fits really well, and is actually a really cute top. But WOW I can't believe how much I've popped already at 15.5 weeks. I look about where I did with Bella at 22 weeks, no lie. I know my body will do what it needs to do... I just hope I don't end up gaining 60 pounds! Although, even if I did, I know I would be pretty determined to lose it all afterward.



In other reality news....the moving situation. We have done nothing but work our jobs and talk about moving lately. It looks like we won't have a problem being approved for our loan, but we will need to find renters for our condo before being official. So we're starting the "operation clean out" this week. This means putting most of Bella's toys, and other clutter we have acquired over the past 6 years in boxes and taking it to storage. We bought our place brand builder new in 2005, so it really is nice and in good shape. Just needs some cleaning up and organizing, carpets cleaned and some paint touch ups. So we are on it now!

We also have started looking at houses. We looked at a really old home on my parents neighborhood. My parents live in a great neighborhood---lots of value, lots of yard space, great neighbors and good school system. However, the home was built in 1960 and needs A LOT of updates...not just some, A LOT. We talked about it after, and the cons definitely outweighed the pros for us. We really don't want to spend the next 20 years putting every last cent we make back into our home. So we decided that home was not for us.

Then we went and looked at a few houses in Fishers. One was way too small for our growing family...one was definitely not for us... one was really cute with an unfinished basement and then one was really cute WITH a finished basement...a definite plus! It's good to get a good idea of what we are looking for and what is in our price range etc.

Bella really likes going to look at houses too. She is so cute with us when we go to look! She opens doors and says "thats' a closet, that's a bedroom..." haha!


In BABY news.... we decided to go ahead and get an early gender peek ultrasound!! YAY! I am soooo excited and cannot wait to finally name this kiddo and start planning a bit more :) Happy early Birthday present to me :) They run a special on Tuesdays for gender scans, but since they are closed next Tuesday, they are letting me come on Monday afternoon but offering me the Tuesday discount. We are so excited!!

Bella's first haircut

Bella is almost 3 and we hadn't gotten her haircut... until yesterday. I finally couldn't take it anymore. Her hair had become unruly, unable to manage and no matter what I did, it looked messy. It's a bittersweet moment to take your child for their first trim... it's like you are cutting away something that you have both worked so hard to grow haha! Either way, her hair looks so much better. She has wavy hair--which she does NOT get from me.. and I think one of my biggest fears of cutting it was that all of her curls would go away. THANKFULLY, giving it the much needed cut just made those curls tighter and bouncier :) We also cut it all one length in the back so now it should grow healthy and strong instead of the flyaway mess she was dealing with.

I was worried on how she would do. My uncle does hair, and I'd love for him to have his chance wit Bella, but she doesn't even like ME doing her hair, so I didn't want to subject him to it. So I took her to Cookie Cutters. It worked out great. They have little cars for them to sit in, they get a sucker and they get to watch a movie of their choice. She was in Heaven. She only cried when the lady tried to put the cape on her (see photo below) so we quickly took it off and she was happy again. They gave her a balloon when she was finished and a little baggie with some of her hair in it for me to put in her baby book. All in all, a good experience and Bella looks adorable :)







Isn't it adorable?? :)



Also, this weekend I marked 15 weeks in this pregnancy! Yahoo! We had a wedding of course on Saturday and for some reason I had a harder time. I was fine--and then suddenly I got REALLY crampy and light headed and was feeling a lot of tightening. I'm guessing it was a mixture of both Braxton Hicks and needing more water. Jerry made me sit down for a bit and I drank a bottle of water and had a granola bar. It seemed to help but came back a bit later in the day. I think I just have to make sure I am taking better care of myself when I'm working right now. It's easy to get busy and forget to do things like eat and drink. I can't forget that right now...it's not all about me.



We are still deciding if we should get the early gender scan next week. I REALLY want to..I just think it would be fun to know now :) We'll still have the 20 week one on August 12 no matter what obviously. My birthday is in August, so Jerry said I could do it for my birthday present if I really want to. I need to decide like today haha!

We are still looking at housing and financing etc. It's so complicated these days when you want to rent out your current place and all that. We are making progress though and still praying it will be possible. We saw an older home in my parents neighborhood last night. It was a really big house, but needed a TON of updates. Not just some--a TON. We talked about it for a long time last night, and I think we've decided that house is not for us. While we don't mind some home improvement projects, we just don't see ourselves wanting to spend the next 10 years putting every last cent we make back into our home.

We are also going to look at an newer home this evening...so if you are one that prays, we'd appreciate some prayers for us when it comes to finding and financing a perfect home for our family :)

Long Weekend

It was a long weekend this weekend... Jerry had 4 days off from his day job, which for most people would equal fun times with friends and family, maybe time by a pool, eating a cookouts and fireworks for the fourth of July. Well, not for this family ;) Mandy Leonards Photography had 2 weddings to shoot this weekend. I don't do many double wedding weekends--they are tough, I won't lie. 2 13 hour days in a row, especially in the 100 degree heat of July is hard on anyone and I definitely won't recommend it to a pregnant woman haha. But-- we got through it, and we got through it well. I am very, very pleased with how the photos turned out and both of our couples are adorable and happy and married :) The days actually flew by and we enjoyed getting to know everyone!

While we were working, Bella spent the weekend at Jerry's parents house. She got to visit the zoo, which she loves and play outside. She had a nice time but she was really happy to see us when we picked her Sunday morning :)

Other news from the weekend--my oldest friend Megan (Russ) Noel gave birth to her first child, a boy, Matthew Edward. I had just seen Megan on Friday and I just knew that she going to have that baby before the end of the weekend :) I am so so happy for her and her husband... and Matthew is adorable! Jerry, Bella and I went by the hospital yesterday to visit. It is super special to me that Megan and I have been friends since we were 6 years old, and here we are both mommies. What a really cool thing!

I also chimed in 14 weeks for Baby 2.0 on Sunday--officially marking the 2nd trimester no matter what book you read now (since every book you read will tell you something different from 12-14 weeks). Yay! I am feeling large and in charge already--which slightly scares me for what is to come this fall/winter. With Bella, I really still felt pretty attractive at this point, but not so much right now. Just trying to focus on the outcome.... here is my latest belly!





Jerry and I talked about names again this week and have a few more on our plate to consider. The housing/moving talk continues as well. We are still unsure of what will happen there-- we are waiting to hear back on the rules these days on renting your current house since we've gotten 3 different stories from 3 different people. We were pre-approved for the loan, so that part makes us feel better...we just have to figure out what to do with our current home.

Either way....Bella will get a big girl room when Baby 2.0 comes...and she has requested a "Tiana room" (from Princess in the Frog). And it's totally ok if she still wants that in a few months or changes her mind. I think it will be fun to let her pick out her big girl room....whether its here in our current home or in a new one. :)