It's A….

We went yesterday afternoon down to San Diego for an ultrasound to see our baby and hoping to also find out the sex of baby number two!

I wanted to wait till we left and do something creative to find out vs just having the tech say "it's a ____". So while filling out info I told the tech that we wanted to find out the sex we just didn't want to be told. We went back into the room and the baby was moving around. We saw the skull from the top and I (having been trying to figure out the whole skull theory thing) said "oh it's definitely a girl!" she asked why I thought that and if it was just I was hoping for a girl over another boy. I said no and I told her about the theory and she was like "well that's actually the first time I have heard a mom make a guess based off that". So she continues on with the scan and has us close her eyes so she could check on what the sex is, she got several different shots and then was done. We got to see our baby now known to the family as A (we do not plan to share the name again till birth) wiggling and kick around, sucking their thumb, and just looking adorable!

Here is baby A sucking their thumb! You can also see the little foot outline. Measured a little small from where my guess date is "set" at but the tech said that the positioning and A being curled up a little still could have thrown that off, but since I know it's only two days off from when I know conception happened I'm really not worried (giving an estimated due date from LMP and ovulation date can produce different results).  

The viewing room we were in has surround sound, so when the tech put the heartbeat up for us to listen to, it was loud and made Little Jedi jump and turn around towards me fast! 

Heartbeat sounded beautiful and was 160 beats per minute.

Another profile shot. Baby A liked to pose for pictures for us, Little Jedi never let us get a clear pretty profile picture so I was super happy to have so many clear shots and see A moving their hands and legs around.

So as we were leaving I had the tech text my friend who was going to help us plan the surprise balloon reveal. She ended up not being able to due to being stuck in San Diego so I picked up a large box and took the sealed envelope with the "potty shots" and written "it's a _____" note to Party City and told them our plan, I picked out the different colored balloons (pink or blue), handed them the envelope, and walked away. The guy working behind the balloon counter did the balloon thing and taped up the box for us then found us walking around and handed it to us so we could get home to (finally) find out if we  were having a boy or girl. 

When we got home I took the boxes upstairs and wrapped it with a little bit of wrapping paper just to make it look a little more festive. Then we gathered the family together down stairs and opened it up!  

Trying to get a family picture. 

Little Jedi kept snatching the balloon away from me.

Showing dada that he's going to have a baby sister!

Little Jedi: 22 months

I haven't posted any sort of update on Little Jedi in a long time. He is 22 months old now, getting bigger by the day it seems. He loves Cars, Monsters Inc, and Star Wars. He and dada rough house and fight with lightsabers all the time, and he loves it! He has been fully potty trained for 4 or 5 months now and it's pretty awesome! He loves being outside, getting to climb and be a normal crazy toddler. We just love him to bits and constantly feel so blessed to be his parents. He is such a sweet boy and it's amazing to watch his personality grow and develop!

  

 

Crunch crunch!

Walking with mama!

 

Waiting for the plane to take off!

My Little Jedi's second Christmas!

Three Days

Three days from now we should hopefully find out the sex of our second baby! We are so excited to find out if we will be having another Little Jedi or a Rebel Princess, and even if we are not able to 100% determine the sex we are just as excited to see how much s/he has grown in the last 5 weeks! Dada is 100% sure that baby is going to be a little princess, as said previously I have no strong feelings one way or the other of what the sex is/will be.

The last week or so every morning baby has been snuggled up at the very, very top left side of my uterus. S/he will just sit there so still that it started to freak me out a little, so this morning I used the flashlight on my phone and held it to my belly to see what baby would do. 

While at this stage the eyes are still fused shut, a baby will start to be able to sense and respond to outside stimulation such as light or palpitations. S/he didn't seem to like the light too much and moved to the right side and sat there till I took the light away then went back to his/her comfy spot. I could see the movement and feel the large ball of baby but I have not yet been able to feel any actual distinctive movement. I think that this baby has his/her back facing out vs Little Jedi who often faced forward and I could feel every kick and jab right around this time during pregnancy with him. I don't think I will feel much movement with this baby till 16+ weeks.

Introducing...

Baby number two! 


A few short weeks after moving up to Oregon we were a little surprised to find out that we were pregnant with baby number two! This is our fifth pregnancy due to previous miscarriages, so as usually I was and still am nervous about baby growing and all.

 

You can just barely see the second line on the first (top) test, 

the second (bottom) test was two days later.

At nine weeks we were able to go in for an ultrasound and saw our baby growing right on track with a beautiful heartbeat of 173 bpm! Official "due date" June 25, 2014!

Measured 9 weeks on the dot.

Just as with Little Jedi I started progesterone suppositories right away and stopped them at twelve weeks. So far everything has been going great! I had only a little bit of nausea here and there first thing in the morning….or any time I coughed haha. Very similar to my pregnancy with Little Jedi, I felt well for the most part which, of course, freaked me out.

As of right now I am 13 weeks and 3 days into the pregnancy which puts me in the second trimester (1/3 done!). I have been visiting family back in California so I will not have an actual appointment till I get back up to Portland…next year. Dada is on his way down to spend Christmas with us as we speak so Tuesday we have an (elective) ultrasound planned to see our baby and (hopefully!) find out the sex! Dada is convinced that this baby is going to be a girl. I have no strong feelings one way or the other, I think I would prefer a second boy but we would be happy with a girl! I have been getting pretty good at guessing the sex of a baby based off of the 'skull theory', so I am leaning towards boy based off the one ultrasound we had but it's really easier to make a guess at 12+ weeks because the baby isn't to squished up then.
Either way it will be great to see how much our baby has grown and see him/her wiggle around!

Baby big head!

Heartbeat 173bpm.

Merry Christmas!

Just because: Babywearing

I started babywearing when D was four days old! We had an Ergo, stretchy wrap, a few woven wraps.
I found that after a while I no longer liked our Ergo carrier at all. It wasn't comfortable for me to wear him in, the waist hurt, it was always loose and dug into my hips. I couldn't get the straps tight enough for the shoulders to stay up. I just did not enjoy it.
Don't get me wrong I am not bashing Ergo! I think Ergo is great for people that can get it to fit properly but to me it seems like much more of a daddy carrier due to the way it is cut and structured. Wider hips/waist, broader shoulders, longer torso. It just wasn't working for me and made it so I wasn't enjoying or able to easily wear my baby like I wanted to. I tried wrapping with woven wraps more often but once he started crawling and moving he did not like that, we tried ring slings which were easy but only good for short trips but my sensitive shoulders didn't let me use one for long.

I needed something that I could wear him on my front or back, that would fit both my husband and I easily, and was comfortable for me and baby. My family found our answers in a Tula! For us Tula was exactly what we were looking for, I could wear him on my front and back, my husband and I could swap the carrier back and forth with easy adjustments, it stayed on my shoulders and the waist gets small enough (for reference I wear a size 1 in pants)! It also wasn't as thick and hot for baby as we found the Ergo to be. What I really loved about our Tula was that they were designed and owned by a local San Diego mom! It sure didn't hurt that they came in cute prints too (though I "pimped" ours myself with Star Wars print).

While Tula is the chosen soft structure carrier for our family, there are so many other brands on the market and you can't go wrong with which ever one works best for you an your baby. The most important thing is to remember to 1) keep you baby visible and kissable 2) don't let their chin tuck (keep it easy for them to breath) 3) support the knees!

Aww look how tiny he was!

One month old.

 Daddy wearing baby.

First time being wrapping in a woven, close to two months.

My favorite woven wrap, Kobalt Rouge, 3 months.

 

On daddy's back and going for a ride, 4 months.

First time using our Tula, the day I bought it, 10 months.

After  I pimped our Tula to better fit our family's personal style.

20 months old and still enjoying being worn…just not wrapped.

Rose City Comic Con.

Days after our arrival in Oregon my husband was back hitting the grind stone putting in 10+ hours every day in preparation for the Rose City Comic Con in Portland. The company he works for, Saberforge, had a booth at the convention to show off the amazing lightsabers that they make! Saberforge has been in business for the past five years and has several different models of LED sabers available, there is really something for everybody to love! 

The LED's used are the brightest on the market right now and give clear bright vibrant color even in the light. They are made with skill and pride which is easy to see. If you would like to see more or get your own check them out HERE or on Facebook.

  

Falling Leaves.

The bright vibrant changing colors, leaves dancing to the ground as they fall off the tree, hearing the crunch of old dead leaves beneath our feet, sweet laughter, blue skies, puffy white clouds, the sun shining, and a light cool breeze.

You could say that we have been enjoying our time outside!

Pumpkin Patch!

We have been in Oregon for close to a month now.

Last weekend we went to Roloff Family Farm pumpkin patch, approximately a 45 minute drive west of where we live.
We had so much fun! They had a large open field with pumpkins to pick from, a kid area with lots of things for kids to do including a slide, dirt box, hay stacks, tire tower, exotic animal exhibit. We also took a tractor tour of some more of their 100 acre property. We were able to talk to the  Roloff's for a little bit as we saw them walking around, and Matt was even our tour guide! They are so sweet and love having their 'home' open to people to come visit. While on our property tour we were able to see the weeding barn that they rent out, it's so cute, I would love to have our recommitment ceremony there in a few more years!