25 Weeks

25 weeks...can I really be that far along?! It's so crazy to think that I'm over halfway with this pregnancy, and that in just 15 (short) weeks, our baby will be here.

25 week baby bump photo:


I don't know if this is the typical time to be nesting, but boy am I! I've been on a major baby-stuff kick lately, and have been madly checking things off the list of baby needs, from clothes, to Christmas presents, to bassinets (plus cleaning all the things that we already have). It feels so good to know that in terms of "gear," we're almost totally ready for our baby to come. Plus, buying things for our little girl to wear or play with makes me that much more excited for her arrival. :)

A friend of ours tipped me off to a GREAT sale on baby things, which really helped us fill out our little girl's wardrobe. Here are some of the finds:


Now I feel like I just need a refresher on basic baby protocol, like swaddling & feeding & napping. But I have 3 more months for that, right? ;)

I went in for another Dr. appointment this past Thursday, and got the news that our baby's heartbeat is still nice and strong and that I'm measuring (lbs and belly wise) almost spot on. :) (It's always SO reassuring to hear those things!) In terms of development (from What to Expect), our baby girl is 9 inches long and 1 1/2 lbs in weight this week! Her face is almost fully formed, she has facial and body hair, and her lungs and capillaries are further developing. Also, her kicks are getting stronger and more frequent, which has been fun since I can now see her move from the outside and Travis can now feel her too! All in all, she's looking and acting more and more like the little one we'll meet in 3 months (did I mention that we can't wait?!). :) Grace just loves to look at the "picture of baby sister" in the book and on our blog, and to talk about what baby sister will do when she comes ("cry all the time"). It's so fun to have her share in the excitement of baby with us!

Til next time dear readers...

Happy You & Me Day

For our 4 year anniversary, Travis and I decided to go on a harbor cruise around Lake Erie. And I'm so glad we did! The 3 1/2 hour cruise felt way too short--I never wanted it to end!

Our cruise ship, the Nautica Queen:


We boarded right in the heart of downtown, in an area called the "Flats" (because it's the lowest part of the city), surrounded by buildings from the 1800's.


Once the ship left the shore, we were fed a buffet dinner of various salads, fresh fruit, rolls, green beans, roasted potatoes, beef, and chicken.
Here we are waiting at our table before dinner begins:




We stuffed ourselves silly for dinner. And for dessert, we had NY cheesecake with raspberry sauce--YUM (still not sure how we squeezed it in)!


The morning and early afternoon of our anniversary had been rainy and gray, but thankfully God answered my silent prayers and blessed us with a beautiful evening. :)


It was wonderful to watch the sun set over the water (and very romantic ;) ):


After dinner, we headed out on deck to better take in the view.



It was warm and breezy--perfect.

A nice man saw us taking the above pictures and asked us if he could take some pictures for us (he basically said "Here, give me that camera and get over there!"):


The lovebirds:

Thanks again nice man!

Heading back toward the city, from the bow of the ship:


The skyline:


After being in the front of the ship for awhile, we decided to go up on top...


...where we got these pictures of the city as the sun set...






...and danced to a slow song just before the night was through.

We had a wonderful time talking, eating, laughing, sightseeing, cuddling, kissing, and dancing. It was the perfect setting to remind me of how in love I am with Travis and how much I love him too...and always will. Happy Anniversary, my love! I'm so glad I get to spend forever with you!

Baby Names & Preggo Pic

We finally narrowed down the list of baby names to our top 5 picks, and would love to hear what your favorites are. Just go to the poll on the top left side of our blog to vote! (Note: you can only vote once, but if you'd like to give a shout out for your #2 & 3 picks, you can leave a comment under this post).

And because we're on the topic of babies, here's a pic of my baby bump from Week 23:

21/22 Week Update

Since I saw the Dr. last Thursday, I wanted to give everyone another update on our baby. The Dr. said that our little girl's heartbeat is strong and that my tummy is measuring right on (21 cm for 21 weeks), so everything looks good! According to "What to Expect", our baby is 1 lb in weight and almost 8 inches long this week (week 22), and is developing all of her senses. She's also getting more coordinated. Example: I asked Grace this morning if we should sing baby a song and suggested we sing "If you're happy and you know it" (since that's her favorite one to sing for FHE). Well, when we got to "If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray," baby sister gave me a little punch in the stomach. It was a pretty funny coincidence. I love feeling our baby kick, and am so grateful I get to feel her every day.

And since my mom always wants to know how big my tummy is now:
Week 21:


Week 22:


And a picture from today of our sweet Grace to make you smile:

The Great Singing Grace

Grace has become quite the little singer lately, and since she usually won't perform for more than 2 seconds when we pull out the video camera, I was SO excited when I was able to capture her singing some of her favorite songs on video at lunch today.
So here she is in her blog musical debut singing...

"Popcorn Popping" (unfortunately my camera malfunctioned and I didn't catch the whole thing. I was SO bummed! I love her little signs with it though :) ):


"The Itsy Bitsy Spider":


The "ABC Song":


And "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star":


We love to hear her sing, and are so glad that she enjoys music as much as we do!

It's a...GIRL!!!

It's not dejavu. It's true! Baby #2 is a GIRL! We are SO excited to be having another girl, and for Grace to be having a little sister. We hope the two of them will be fast friends, as well as best friends for life.

As promised, here's a preggo pic of me from today at 19 1/2 weeks:


And now, of course, more pictures of our little cutie!
These first 3 are of our baby girl's feet, profile, and arm:

And these 3 are of the baby's profile and face:

Pretty cute, huh? ;)

The ultrasound tech said the baby's heartbeat was perfect, and that her (it's so nice to be able to say "her" and not "it"!) leg and head measurements look great too (she's measuring just 2 days behind my due date, so right on schedule!).
I didn't want to take my eyes off the screen, to stop looking at her spine, her "skeletor" face, her long legs, her little feet as she rubbed them together, or her arms that she kept "waving" at us by her face. She was so perfect and beautiful, and looking at her made me love her that much more. I'm already craving holding her in my arms & shushing her back to sleep at night. *Sigh* But at least we're halfway there!

You might be wondering if we have a name picked out now. Well...we're still at a loss! Funny thing is, Travis and I were just saying to each other last night that if this one's a girl, we're in trouble, because after looking through our book of "50,001 Best Baby Names" there were only TWO girl names that the both of us really liked last time around, and I'm not sure that we'll go with choice #2 (Kailey). But I hear that tastes in names change, and I'm hoping that's the case for us, and that we'll find another girl name that we really love for our little one (I'm sure we will!). And, thankfully, now that we know what we're having, I'm excited to let this naming business begin!

Anyways, I'll be back in weeks to come with more pregnancy pics and updates about our little girl (including a name poll). 'Til then!

Birthday Stuff

Grace's "Grammy" and "Poppy" were very sweet and sent her some money for her birthday, and it's been fun deciding what to get her with her special money. The first two things we bought were a new pool and some sand toys for her water/sand table, and so here, Grammy and Poppy, are some pictures (from this last week) of Grace enjoying her birthday presents!

Can you tell that she loves them?!


Grace loves to "play outside day" as much as possible, and these new toys have made playing in the backyard so much more fun!


Throwing some water with her shovel:


And dumping it on herself:


Smiling for mom: :)


Dad had the great idea to make a water slide...


and Grace thought it was SO fun!


She's so enjoyed all of the little toys we've been able to buy with the money. Thank you again and again!