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.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
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.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
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.)
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.)
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Baby #2
We are excited to announce Baby Sterken #2 is on his/her way in August! BJ, Sam, and I couldn't be more excited.
We found out in the beginning of December that we were expecting, but waited a little while this time to tell friends and family.
We are excited to add a new member to our family and can't wait to meet him/her.
We found out in the beginning of December that we were expecting, but waited a little while this time to tell friends and family.
We are excited to add a new member to our family and can't wait to meet him/her.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sam - 16 Months
Our little girl is 16 months old today! How did that happen?
She is showing off her independence in a big way lately, and rarely allows us to help. This makes mealtime interesting because we usually have to try to have something to eat that she can eat with her fingers. We've offered her a fork and spoon which she is getting the hang of slowly. She also loves to drink out of a regular cup, but hasn't gotten the concept of pulling it down from her lips when she is done and has drenched herself many times.
She loves to pretend to brush her teeth, but will not let us actually get in her mouth with her toothbrush to actually get them clean. The doctor said she should be brushing them regularly at 2 years old, so I figure we have a little time to get her better at actually brushing and not just sucking on the toothbrush.
She has grown in the last couple weeks. We kind of skipped right over her 9 month clothes and is now in 9-12 month and 12-18 month clothes mostly. She has one pair of shoes that fit her which are size 4, and I think we'll be moving out of those soon. Apparently when I bought clothes early I bought in 12 or 18 months because her closet is overflowing with outfits right now. We have to weed through some of the stuff she is now wearing and get rid of some of stuff that she has outgrown, there is no reason all the clothes she has ever worn just in case we have another girl down the road. I have at least 5 tubs of clothes full and she has only grown out of 3 different sizes so far.
I am taking Thursday afternoons off most weeks and really enjoy the time that Sam and I get to spend together on those afternoons. Usually we plan something out of the house, but on days like today when we have no plans, we have so much fun hanging out at home. BJ picks her up from daycare at 3:00 most days and they have 3-5 as their one on one time. It's so much fun for me to come home and hear about all the stuff they did in those two hours. BJ is such an amazing father and I love how their relationship grows from this time alone they get 4 days a week.
Sam is still getting her last two molars in on one side of her mouth, so right now she has 10 teeth total with 2 more coming in. The molars have been hard on her and she hasn't been sleeping through the night most nights. The problem is that she can only sleep when she is alone, so if we bring her into bed with us, she thinks it's time for her to entertain us, and none of us sleep. She has outlasted crying it out. She is much more persistent than we are patient in the middle of the night. We're working on the sleep thing and hope it's back to normal when those teeth come in finally.
She is so much fun to have around, she loves dancing, and will sing the ABC song with us. She loves having an audience, and will do anything she can to get a laugh or reaction from us (good or bad). We're pretty much head over heels in love with this little girl, and can't imagine how we entertained ourselves before she came along.
She is showing off her independence in a big way lately, and rarely allows us to help. This makes mealtime interesting because we usually have to try to have something to eat that she can eat with her fingers. We've offered her a fork and spoon which she is getting the hang of slowly. She also loves to drink out of a regular cup, but hasn't gotten the concept of pulling it down from her lips when she is done and has drenched herself many times.
She loves to pretend to brush her teeth, but will not let us actually get in her mouth with her toothbrush to actually get them clean. The doctor said she should be brushing them regularly at 2 years old, so I figure we have a little time to get her better at actually brushing and not just sucking on the toothbrush.
She has grown in the last couple weeks. We kind of skipped right over her 9 month clothes and is now in 9-12 month and 12-18 month clothes mostly. She has one pair of shoes that fit her which are size 4, and I think we'll be moving out of those soon. Apparently when I bought clothes early I bought in 12 or 18 months because her closet is overflowing with outfits right now. We have to weed through some of the stuff she is now wearing and get rid of some of stuff that she has outgrown, there is no reason all the clothes she has ever worn just in case we have another girl down the road. I have at least 5 tubs of clothes full and she has only grown out of 3 different sizes so far.
I am taking Thursday afternoons off most weeks and really enjoy the time that Sam and I get to spend together on those afternoons. Usually we plan something out of the house, but on days like today when we have no plans, we have so much fun hanging out at home. BJ picks her up from daycare at 3:00 most days and they have 3-5 as their one on one time. It's so much fun for me to come home and hear about all the stuff they did in those two hours. BJ is such an amazing father and I love how their relationship grows from this time alone they get 4 days a week.
Sam is still getting her last two molars in on one side of her mouth, so right now she has 10 teeth total with 2 more coming in. The molars have been hard on her and she hasn't been sleeping through the night most nights. The problem is that she can only sleep when she is alone, so if we bring her into bed with us, she thinks it's time for her to entertain us, and none of us sleep. She has outlasted crying it out. She is much more persistent than we are patient in the middle of the night. We're working on the sleep thing and hope it's back to normal when those teeth come in finally.
She is so much fun to have around, she loves dancing, and will sing the ABC song with us. She loves having an audience, and will do anything she can to get a laugh or reaction from us (good or bad). We're pretty much head over heels in love with this little girl, and can't imagine how we entertained ourselves before she came along.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Halloween
Our friends Bill and Laura were kind enough to let us borrow a costume that their daughter had worn last year. So this year Sam was a ladybug. We took her downtown Madison Friday afternoon to trick or treat at the stores on the capital square and on State Street. She did so good sitting in her stroller and was so cute hesitantly taking candy from the bowls.
Saturday night we had some friends over for a mini Halloween party. It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone, and seeing the kids in their costumes. Sunday Sam helped pass out candy to the kids that came trick or treating to our house. We didn't think she needed to go out since she doesn't really eat too much candy yet. It was a very fun weekend!
Saturday night we had some friends over for a mini Halloween party. It was a lot of fun getting together with everyone, and seeing the kids in their costumes. Sunday Sam helped pass out candy to the kids that came trick or treating to our house. We didn't think she needed to go out since she doesn't really eat too much candy yet. It was a very fun weekend!
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