Bedtime Routine

BJ and I share the responsibilities of getting Sam to bed.  Most of the time it's every other night, but lately I've been taking a few extra nights because of BJ's crazy school schedule.  I really don't mind it, it's a special time that Sam and I can have together and just enjoy each other.  Usually the routine is that I will lay in bed with her and read her one story, then we will pray and then read the last story.  Then I have to stretch the truth a little and make up some reason for leaving her room.  Some reason other than "you have to go to bed"  If we tell her that, she has a melt down and screams until we come back to her room.

Tonight was my night to put her to bed.  We read "The Very Greedy Bee" for about the hundredth time, and then I told Sam it was time to start prayers.  Usually I will say something first, and Sam just repeats me.  Tonight she took the lead.  I always start with Jesus, thank you for...  Tonight I told her, "Ok time to pray" and instantly she said "Jesus thank you for sister, mommy, daddy, me...." and the list went on for a while.  I'm sure it included Petey her favorite stuffed puppy and probably some other random stuffed friends.  Then she went on to say "help me have a good day tomorrow."  Of course this is all actually in her speaking terms which is hard for most people to understand and she forgets words here and there, but I know what she is saying.  Most of the time.

What floored me is that she remembered how the prayer went.  Yes I'm predictable, but most of the time when I am praying with her, she is trying to find another book to read, or finding a way to stall me leaving the room.   She may not know what she is saying, but I am thankful that she understands the basics, and is starting her own relationship talking with god on a regular basis.

I have to go now, someone is trying to get me back into her bed for another story.  I might just have to indulge her tonight.

I love you

When BJ and I were dating we said “I love you” more than anything else.  It was totally random too.  Yelling up the stairs, saying it every time one of us walked in the room, when we left each other or came home.  As the years have gone by sadly we have decreased the frequency that we say I love you.  It’s still a couple times a day, but not near as much and as random as it was when we first started dating. 

Sam has rekindled this in our relationship.  All the sudden she has been saying I love you mommy or daddy randomly.  It melts my heart every single time, and reminds me how much it means to me to hear those words randomly throughout the day.  Also, it reminds me how important it is for our family that BJ and I keep our love for each other strong and that our daughters see how much we care about each other every day.

I have a lot to thank our daughter for, but most recently it has been reminding me how much I love her father, and how important it is for me to show her and him that love.

Sam as a Big Sister

We are trying to prepare Sam for her role as big sister, which should happen within the next 2 1/2 months.  While she is not even two yet, and we don't expect her to "get it" until the baby is actually here, she does have one part of being a big sister down pat.  She understands that bringing the baby into the house is going to mean she is going to have to share everything from toys to mommy and daddy time with this new little person, and she's not thrilled about it.

A recent conversations:
Me: Sam do you want your little sister to come soon?
Sam: No
Me: Why not?
Sam: All Mine

Yesterday Sam wasn't feeling well, and just wanted to cuddle.  I kept telling her she had to move over because she was smushing her sister.  She finally got fed up and pushed my stomach and said "out the way sister".

I'm sure someday they will be very good friends, but I think this is a preview of what is to come the next couple months!

Gender Reveal Party

We had quite an exciting week last week.  Sunday and Monday I was in South Carolina for work, so BJ's parents stepped in to save the day and watched Sam for us Monday.  It's so great to have parents who are willing to drive 5 hours just to babysit.  We have amazing parents.  BJ's parents left Tuesday and took Sam with them to spoil her rotten.

Wednesday afternoon we had our 19 week ultrasound.  The baby looks great, and was very active.  I'll try to post pictures soon, but they are the standard ultrasound pictures where if there isn't a label, I don't know what I'm looking at.  We had a great ultrasound tech who gave us a few extra minutes of watching our little one move around.  It made this pregnancy feel so much more real.

When we walked into the room, the ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to find out the gender.  I told her that we wanted to know, but not right away.  So we gave her an envelope to put a note in, revealing the gender of the baby.  She made sure to let us know when we had to turn our eyes away so we wouldn't find out accidentally.  Though with those ultrasounds, I don't think I would have been able to tell either way.

We left the hospital on a high.  Our baby was healthy that is really all we could ask for, and really that was celebrated so much more with this ultrasound versus our ultrasound with Sam, since we have become all too aware of the blessing this news is.  We went out on a date that night.  Dinner and shopping.  The first time we had been able to go out together without worrying about a babysitter for a long time.  It was nice to have time to spend together, and to not have to be home in time for Sam's bedtime, though I'm sure we weren't out much later than 7:30.

Thursday I was lucky enough to get a ride home with our friend Jeremy back to Michigan.  BJ came Friday after work.  Thursday night I went to Walmart to order the cake for the party Saturday.  I told the girl at the bakery that I wanted a cake with either the inside frosting or batter made pink or blue  based on the information in the envelope that I was going to give her.  I made it very clear that I did not want to find out in any way what color was going to be inside the cake until we cut into it Saturday night, and she was very excited to help.  They did a great job on the cake.

Saturday was the big day.  We invited both of our families and a few friends to come find out with us what the gender of the baby would be.   When everyone arrived we asked them to vote on what gender they thought the baby was.  We had dinner, and then waited for the last guest to arrive before we got to the main event for the evening.  BJ, Sam, and I cut the cake together, and we were so excited to see pink frosting in the middle of the cake!  We are so excited that Sam is going to have a little sister.  It was so much fun finding out our big news with the people we love present.  If ever given the chance again, I wouldn't hesitate to do it the same way.  I am also glad that BJ and I kept it a secret from ourselves as well, and I'm very proud of ourselves for not peaking in the envelope the entire 3 days we had it before the party.

Now we just need to start thinking of names for this baby girl.  I have always known I wanted to name a little girl Samantha, but the rest of the names I love are boy names.  Good thing we have a few months to decide, I think we are going to need them.

Daddy's Girl

When I was pregnant with Sam, BJ was a little leery about how he was going to do taking care of Sam by himself every afternoon for 2 hours before I got out of work.  Other than his nieces and nephew he had never really been around babies before, much less by himself for 2 hours a day.  He fell into a routine with her quickly, and the two of them have a special bond which I know is because of the alone time they get each day.   It puts a smile on my face to come home every day and see what new adventure the two of them did that day.

16 1/2 Weeks

I had my monthly appointment with the doctor yesterday.  The babies heartbeat was in the 160's, perfect as the doctor said.  My belly is measuring a little ahead, but only 1 week ahead this time instead of two like at my last appointment.  I will say you can certainly tell I'm pregnant now when I'm wearing tighter shirts.  We scheduled our anatomy ultrasound for the end of the month.  I started feeling more movement from the baby this week, that is such a reassuring feeling.  I love it.

At this point I have been feeling pretty good.  Tired, but I expected that since I never got that 2nd trimester burst of energy you hear about with Sam, so I don't really expect it with this one either.  It also doesn't help that Sam has not been sleeping well at night.  Oh well, I kind of figure that's part of having a second pregnancy that most people deal with.

Most days when people ask how I feel, I laugh and tell them that I forget that I'm pregnant most days.  It's amazing to me how different this pregnancy is to Sam's.  With Sam's we we so obsessed with everything baby, and thoughts about the baby consumed every thought I had.  Don't get me wrong, I'm just as excited for this pregnancy, there just isn't as much free time to think about it with Sam around.

So far this has been a dream pregnancy, let's hope it continues.  Only about 24 more weeks to go (wow that's kind of crazy thinking about it that way.)

12 Weeks

I had my 12 week doctor's appointment today.  The doctor said that things are looking great, but I am measuring 2 weeks ahead of where I should be at this point.  I got to hear the babies heartbeat for the first time.  The heartbeat was in the 140-150 range.

Feeling ok, but tired.  I've had a few run in's with feeling sick, but nothing too terrible.  I'm starting to feel a little better now.  Just in time for our cruise we are taking with work.

We told our families last week finally.  They are all so excited, just like we knew they would be.

Next appointment is March 8th.