Anniversary Weekend!

So I'm kind of going backwards a little. I forgot I never posted about our anniversary celebration. Kevin and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on Sept. 29. It was a wednesday so we just had lunch and waited for the weekend to really celebrate. He took me to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a night. I had requested one night for us to get away. I have only been away from Ayda one other night (other than all my night shifts which I don't really count). Of course as soon as we checked into the lodge we immediately were missing her. She would have LOVED the pool, animals, everything. But we had so much fun together too! We went on a safari around the lodges and saw some of the animals really close up. Afterwards we had dinner at a nice restaurant with some very good food. Our hotel room overlook a "savannah" so when we got back to our room we looked outside and there were two zebras hanging out. It was really neat.

On the safari! They had an ostrich egg (hollowed out!) to show how big they are. Pretty cool!

Kevin and a giraffe getting to know each other. This giraffe was super friendly. She was only about 2 years old and super cute!

On Saturday we decided to get Ayda down to the park because we knew she would love seeing all the animals. And we missed her quite a bit by then!!! Kevin's brother, George, works at Disney and can get us in for free. He and his girlfriend brought Ayda down to us and we all enjoyed the day at Animal Kingdom. And, we were right, Ayda had a BLAST!!

George and Grace

On the Park safari. Ayda said hi and bye to most of the animals! She was into the whole thing.

Taking a break from all the walking! We did have her stroller but she enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals herself!

All in all it was a very FUN 24 hours. We were only about 45 minutes from home but it was a great get away. It has been a crazy three years for Kevin and me. We listed off all that has happened...

On our first anniversary I was 7 months pregnant with Ayda

On our Second Anniversary we had just moved to Florida for Kevin to start his practice

And on our third anniversary I was 12 weeks pregnant with baby #2!!

In between the anniversaries we had Ayda, Kevin graduated, I worked night shift (ahhh!), his office was built and his doors opened, we got pregnant with our second little one, and one or both of us have been to dominican republic (k), ATL countless times, Connecticut (me and A), NYC, and all around Florida. It has been busy and fun and I would not change a day of it all! I still know with everything in me that I married the man I was supposed to and I am more in love with him now as I was when we said our vows! We said we wanted to do life together and I'd say we are doing just that!

Happy 3rd Anniversary to an amazing man, husband, and father!

16 weeks!

I am 16 weeks already! I feel like this pregnancy is going by really fast! Here's the latest:

Morning Sickness: Almost no nausea at all! Only if I get really hungry or I don't drink enough water.

Cravings: I have actually not had many cravings this month. Cherry pie was one that I finally gave into and was very happy I did!

Movements: I felt the baby move on Oct. 3! Since then it is getting stronger and more frequent by the day! I love feeling those little thumps in there.

Energy: It's definitely coming back. I have been able to exercise again a few times a week and I can keep up with Ayda much better again. Very thankful for that!

Clothing: I'm in maternity clothes 100% now. I like the extra room and love having a rather large wardrobe. My SIL and a good friend of mine let me borrow their stuff so I have lots of options!

What I miss: Dr. Pepper. I had pretty much gotten to where I never drank it but I still miss the occasional splurge!!!

Hammock Beach Resort

Pictures of Ayda

The weather this morning was perfect. It was actually cool with a lovely breeze. So we headed outside to play and Ayda made it so fun to get some pictures of her. It has been forever since I took some so it was much needed. I hope this FL fall sticks around! I love it!!

Update!

Well it seems the days are flying by! I can't believe I am 14 weeks already. Ayda is changing by the day. And we are just enjoying life. Kevin is busy with work. He made some changes to how things are being run which we hope will pick up business some. He is so diligent with everything!

Ayda is into her dolls big time right now. She loves wearing her back pack wherever we go. She loves picking out her own clothes, which is usually a dress. We are once again trying to get rid of the pacifier during the day. We were well on our way when she got a cold several weeks ago and I caved and let her have it back. Then I was just lazy in breaking her again. So we're at it again. We are also introducing potty training. She talks about it and is excited but doesn't quite have the concept of telling me ahead of time. We'll keep working on it but I'm not willing to do the potty bootcamp at this point with her. Give me a few more months. I would LOVE for her to be potty trained before baby #2 arrives. Fewer cloth diapers to buy, change and wash!!!

I'm feeling pretty good. Some mornings are still rough but overall I feel pretty good. My energy is coming back for sure. No motivation to exercise but I'm hoping to get into that soon! I need to for sure! The obsession with Hamburgers finally died down which I am sure my arteries are thankful for. I can't believe I am half way through another Bradley series! We have a few more classes. I'll start another series in November and then that will likely be it till after baby is here. I'll miss teaching though! I love hearing how Bradley is helping these couples have the birth they want!

Sorry for no pictures yet again! I have a couple to post of Ayda but I have not downloaded them to the computer yet. And I need to get a baby bump pic but I'm not exactly feeling uber attractive at this point in the game. I will say people were not lying when they said you show earlier with the second baby. No joke!!! I am wearing my maternity (actually...my SIL's maternity clothes and a friend's...I own about 3 things!) clothes already. I tried to stay in my regular clothes but I can't stand anything to be tight on my waist, especially when I am pregnant. So elastic bands are back!

Promise to post the pics soon!!!

Announcing Finally...

We are so excited that we will welcome a new little member of our family into our lives in March! I am almost 13 weeks pregnant!!! This pregnancy has been SO very different from mine with Ayda. I have only thrown up twice (rather than about 6 times a day) and I have cravings I can't ignore!!! It also means instead of losing 8 pounds this trimester like I did with Ayda, I have gained 8 pounds. But I will take those 8 pounds happily because I have been able to pretty much manage the nausea and keep to a pretty normal routine. Ayda and I have definitely slowed down though. I beat myself up for a while about her watching too many movies (mainly my baby can read and baby einstein) but looking back as our schedule is filling back up I think will treasure those mornings snuggled in bed watching her movies or afternoons on the couch munching on apples or grapes. It was like she knew I was not 100% and she was content to slow down with me. But I am very grateful to feel like my energy is coming back little by little and we are taking off to the park, pool, playdates, music class, etc. It's nice to be out and about...just have to remember snacks for me and Ayda and we are both happy!

I had my midwife appointment today. We were waiting till this appointment to finally announce the pregnancy. People found out at 8 weeks with Ayda because I was a nice shade of green. It felt like forever to not say anything this long! My appointment went well! Everything looks perfect and we were able to hear the baby's heart beat with the doppler. We don't plan to do ultrasounds again with this pregnancy and hopefully we won't have to use the doppler again till I am in labor. It was still music to my ears when they finally found the sweet sound. Apparently my placenta is front and center which made it very tough for them to get past that and to the baby. That also means I probably won't feel kicking till later which is a bummer! But we'll see...maybe this baby will be crazy strong like Ayda and I'll feel it regardless. I felt the first kick from Ayda at 16 weeks and Kevin felt her at 17 weeks!

So we are very excited and I cannot wait to feel this little one inside me knowing God is knitting him/her (we feel it is a him!) together! My heart is full of joy!

Overheard at our House...

Mommy: Ayda!!! Did you put ALL the fish food into the fish tank?!?!?

Ayda: Uh Ooooh

Mommy: Ayda I have told you not to touch the fish tank. Only look at the fish! What are we going to do?

Ayda: Fish! Eat Eat!!

Mommy: Yes the fish are eating...ALOT! I'm calling daddy to find out what to do!

While cleaning Ayda's bathroom a spider jumps out of the trash can and runs across her room:

Mommy: AH! Spider!

Ayda: Eeeeeew! Bug!

Mommy: Yea huge bug...don't move!

Ayda: Eeeeeew!

Mommy: Ah! He ran up under the chair into the lining. I can't get him Ayda!

Ayda: Uh Oh!

Mommy: Yea big uh oh! Well I guess we'll trap him in there and hope he is stuck! Ok?

Ayda: Ooookay

(Luckily we have not seen him since, and the pest control guy sprayed some stuff into the lining of the chair!)

Ayda walks into our room eating something:

Mommy: Hey beautiful! What's in your mouth?

Ayda: Ama (Ama is chinese for Grandma and is what she calls Kevin's mom)

Mommy: Ama gave you something? What did she give you?

Ayda: Ama

Mommy: Oh, Ama is in your mouth?

Ayda: Noooooo!

Mommy: Ama just gave you something and you aren't going to show me what?

Ayda: Okay! Bye bye

Ayda leaves room and closes the door on her way out! And I still have no clue what she was eating!

ChuckECheeses!

Mom and I were trying to come up with afternoon activities we could do with Ayda but also avoid the heat. We decided to head to Chuck E Cheese's and let her play. I thought for sure she would LOVE it there. Games, rides, slides! Well...

This is pretty much her face in every picture I took. She was not too sure about any of the rides. She did finally seem to enjoy a couple of them after riding them about a dozen times.

She was really not impressed with this thing. It was my FAVORITE as a kid. My childhood best friend, Rachel, would hang on the seat and we would go around and around till we got in trouble! Ayda just kept saying "All done".

This was definitely her favorite. She and mom didn't wrack up many points but they had fun throwing balls everywhere...literally! It's good there were not kids on either side of them...they might have gotten taken out!

Again...not too impressed!

Oh well, we'll try again in a couple years!!!