Then and Now - Stella and Her Pumpkin

I can't believe this picture was taken a year ago...look how much of a chunky monkey my Stella was! She was around 20 weeks old here.

 ...and here she is now, at one week shy of being 17 months old, picking out her pumpkin at a local pumpkin patch. My, how she's changed, but still looks the same!

And since we are comparing babies and pumpkins...here is baby girl #2 at 28 weeks. Matt and I used to CACKLE when some movie ad came on picturing a large, LARGE woman dressed head to toe in an orange sweatsuit. Man says to woman "Look at you, lookin' like da Great Pumpkin...Trick or Treat!"

2nd Pregnancy, week 27...Trip to L&D!

So to say we had a rough weekend/beginning of the week would be an understatement. I think the fact that I am about to be a mother of 2 under 2 years old has finally hit me and this week it all came to a head.

Did I mention that I am hugely pregnant? Yes, huge....I don't say that with exaggeration. I really am huge. People tell me every day. I get jaw-dropping expressions from strangers and family members/friends alike when I reveal that I'm 28 weeks pregnant and still have right under 3 months to go. No, I'm not about to deliver this baby as I walk up the stairs, or pull my stroller out of my SUV, or sit on the Pilates reformer and show my clients how to do a Pilates exercise, or insert-any-other-daily-activity...I'm short, as in reeeeeally short (5 feet even, people) and the baby has no where to go but out....waaaaay out.

I understand why I'm already big at this point in my pregnancy. I get that this is my 2nd pregnancy and women tend to show earlier and more prominently with their 2nd babies. It's my body, so I understand that she's got no where to go in my short-waisted abdomen than straight out...really, I do. But it does not make the inability to do my daily activities any easier.

I've spent the first 6 months of this pregnancy doing everything I normally do...picking Stella up off the floor constantly and carrying her around, setting her down and doing that all over again, going up and down the stairs millions of times each day, exercising regularly (Pilates, yoga, cardio machines at the gym, Zumba, etc...), bending over to tie my shoes, teach Pilates and demonstrate exercises, etc...but the past 2 weeks everything has come crashing down on me, throwing it in my face that I have to slow down OR ELSE. The fact that I've been having very strong, uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions every day since 20 weeks doesn't help, either. Well, the OR ELSE happened on Tuesday afternoon in the form of a tumble down the stairs in our house.

Don't freeak - baby is fine and I am fine, aside from a little soreness in my back. After I put Stella down for a nap I (of course) came downstairs in my socks and my feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my upper back on the stair treads. I was paralyzed with pain for a few seconds as the wind was literally knocked out of me, then realized I might have seriously hurt the baby. After trying to quiet my screams of pain for fear that I'd wake Stella up (and at that point I didn't think I'd be able to get up the stairs if she got upset), I slithered down the stairs and crawled to get my cell. Luckily, Matt works close to home and made it there in less than 5 minutes. After talking to my OB-GYN, she said we needed to head to the Labor and Delivery department of the hospital - I was fine until she told me that, then I started to freak out. Apparently any time you get into a car accident (minor or major) or have a fall while pregnant, you are supposed to go straight to hospital to get checked out just to be sure. So we got our sitter and headed there - went straight upstairs and were admitted 15 minutes after parking. Did I mention I love St. Tammany Parish Hospital?

To make a long story short, the baby was monitored and an emergency ultrasound was done to confirm that she was perfectly fine. It also confirmed she was HUGE. I got to spend 30 minutes looking her up and down on the ultrasound, which I LOVED, even though Matt couldn't be in the room with us:( - seeing her sweet little self almost made the hospital trip worth it:) Her overall measurements put her at about 29 weeks, 4 days even though I was at 27 weeks, 3 days. The ultrasound tech guessed she weighed about 3lbs, give or take 7oz, which is a bit heftier than the average baby (2.22lbs) at the same gestational age. If we went by how much weight the average baby gains from 27 weeks through 40 weeks, this chunky monkey would be 10lbs at delivery, at least. No wonder my doctor wants to take her at least a week early:) 

So the physical side to being largely pregnant with a 1 1/2 year old running around is catching up to me, and hopefully this little tumble down the stairs will inspire me to SLOW DOWN. I don't like being helpless or dependent on anyone - on a typical day I can do almost anything by myself, and now I can't. That is infuriating. What 28-weeks-pregnant woman can hold a 23lb baby on one hip, squat down to pick up a sippy cup and hold the diaper bag/pair of shoes/snack in the other hand while going down the stairs and out the door? That's what I try to do every day...it never fails. Hopefully I've learned my lesson.

The good news is I didn't have Stella in my arms and both baby and I are fine. We are very lucky!!!

Stella's Traveling Days - 12 More Weeks Until Sissy Arrives!

I've become one of those bloggers...the one who hasn't updated their blog in weeks/months. It feels like time passes so quickly these days that I don't realize I haven't been blogging, cleaning the house, keeping up with friends, etc...(really, fill-in-the-blank with any task/duty that you deem important). All of a sudden my Stella bug is 2 months shy of being a 1 1/2 year old and my big round belly tells me its almost time to meet little Sissy. We've had a busy month so far -

 Stella took her first plane ride to see Pops and Mia in Atlanta and stayed without Mommy and Daddy for more than one night. It was TOUGH to leave her at Dad's, but I know she had a fun time and I KNOW Pops and Mia loved having some grandparent time with Stella!

  She learned all sorts of new tricks while at their house, including how to say "coffee", "Lola", and climb backwards down the stairs, which we'd been working on. She had a nasty cold after the flight over which turned into an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other, but we are fighting that with antibiotics

 Practicing walking without holding on to our hands! She went everywhere with those rings!

 She spent most of her weekend in this position.

 Dinner time in the big girl chair!

 Chatting it up with Lola, aka "Yoya"

 Morning playtime

 Getting dressed for night-night with Mia.

Goodbye hugs with Aunt Colleen!

While in Stella stayed in Atlanta I got to visit with one of my besties who just had a little girl, Ellie, at the beginning of September.

 Bathtime fun with Aunt Caro

 Of course, we spent most of our time dressing her up and staring at her.

 Aunt Caro and Ellie

 She didn't appreciate all the rattles we put on her...this is called "sensory overload"

Bye Bye hugs on Sunday - sad to leave this sweet girl! 

I had so much fun and I loved catching up with Megan and really getting to meet Dustin. Augusta is a beautiful town with wonderful shopping...I even got baby Sissy's baby bedding on consignment for $50! I only have a few touches to add to it and it will be completed! I feel another trip over there with my entire family is in order...soon and very soon!

In baby Sissy news, I'm 27 weeks on Friday and can't believe I've only got 12 weeks left before she's delivered via c-section. This picture is at 26 weeks, 2 days.

 Thank GOD I passed the 3 hour glucose test, which means I don't have gestational diabetes this time around! I thank a good diet and lots of exercise to combating GD - which my doctor suggested. You can't completely avoid having it by being more healthy, but it can lower your chances. So we are looking at the calendar and assume she will be delivered via scheduled c-section sometime during the later part of the week of January 2, around 38 or 39 weeks. MC and Dave hope to go a little later and deliver the week of January 9, so our parents can have some space between each baby, plus I'd like to try and make it across the lake for the delivery! I know that may be pushing it, but we shall see:)

We spent last weekend in Natchez with the whole family and LOVED visiting with everyone. We had a party for all the October birthdays in our family Friday night, spent Saturday shopping, eating and watching football, and Sunday was spent at Mae Mae's doing much of the same:)

 Pajama party

 Mommy and Stella before church

 Daddy and Stella before church

Here are some images of baby Sissy's new room - the crib is being painted by Matt's parent's and I'm still waiting to get the last set of drapes in, but its coming along nicely!

 The wall color is "Limelight" which Matt picked out - he had his heart set on a green room and this is green! We found the chandelier at a cute shop in downtown Covington and Matt wired it with the help of his Dad. He hung the blinds while we were in Augusta and we hung the drapes last night (Mom, they still have to be ironed/steamed...don't judge the wrinkles). That rug is going into the trash because the dogs tore it up, so we are on the hunt for a big pretty rug. The adult bed will stay up in Sissy's room until Stella is out of her crib, then we'll move the bed into her big girl room (I can't even begin to imagine when that day will come!)

Here's a shot of the bedding I got on consignment in Augusta for $50. The skirt is a shorter length and I prefer longer skirts, so I added to the bottom of the skirt in a cream/lime zebra print material to add some length and tie in some green. I got her plush crib fitted sheet on consignment, as well, which is Pottery Barn. I have a white one for Stella and it's so soft! So we are slowly making progress and hope to have everything done by the time she arrives!