24 weeks

How Far Along: 24 weeks
Size of baby: about 12 inches/size of an ear of corn, 1lb 6ozs
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 20 lbs (oh lordy!)
Maternity Clothes: I'm wearing mostly maternity clothes now.
Gender: It's a GIRL!
Movement: She is a wiggle worm! I'm pretty sure she moves more than Bella did. We have been watching her move from the outside for a couple of weeks now!
Sleep: Getting better. I know I shouldn't get use to it though
What I miss: Sleeping on my back.
Cravings: Chocolate Milkshakes!
Symptoms: I am dead tired!
Best Moment this week: I just love feeling her move!




I have had 2 doctors appointments this week. I had my monthly OB visit on Monday. Her heartbeat was 157. I'm pretty sure it was a little higher because she had just finished up with some jazzercise. HA!



Today I had an ultrasound to check the placenta previa. Because we had not been there in 6 weeks they did a full ultrasound. I certainly did not mind it at all. I love getting to see her precious little self again. Her measurements are averaging at 23 weeks and 5 days. It was also discovered that her second toe is longer than her big toe. Taking after Mommy and Daddy on that one. She looks great! The placenta has moved and will hopefully continue to move. It doesn't have that much further to go so I am hopeful that it will do what we need it to do.



Bella went with us again and was so sweet through the whole ultrasound. She whispered about things she was seeing and hearing. She was a little nervous but she held Mommy's hand for quite some time during the scan. She did announce at the end that she was "going to cowege and then going to get married". I really love that little little girl!

Antique Show

My parents recently bought a new travel trailer. Lucky for us they let us stay with then in when we went to Warrenton for the Antiques show this Spring. Dad says we can borrow the trailer anytime, we just can't borrow his truck. I wonder what he will say about borrowing the trailer if we ever get a truck big enough to pull it? HA!

We had a great spot and thoroughly enjoyed our time at the antique show this time. It was so much more relaxed actually staying on the grounds. We shopped for a while, ate lunch, rested, and shopped some more. We also did some exploring this time. The area up there is beautiful! We have been making this trip for 2 years now and look forward to it so much. It looks like Baby Sister will be making her first trip up there in October for the next show.

During our exploring time we ran across this field of bluebonnets. You can't live in Texas and not take some bluebonnet pictures. It's just something that is expected! And of course we want to be good Texans!

I'm pretty sure she is the most gorgeous little girl I have ever seen! I love her so much!

This was what the front door of the trailer opened up too! We had our own little pond and a great breeze. Dad tried to reserve the same spot for October but had a hard time getting confirmation. I guess you have to share the spot with others. I say, you snooze, you lose!

We had another great trip to Warrenton and I'm excited about October!

Nacogdoches

The last weekend of Spring Break we headed to our happy place, Nacogodoches. This time we took our favorite girl with us. Turns out she "wuvs macogdoches". This could not have made her mommy and daddy any happier. Since it was Spring Break we headed out early Friday morning so we could be there as long as possible. We got in town and checked into our favorite hotel, The Fredonia Hotel. Of course we hit up as many bookstores as possible. Baby sister and Bella got new SFA gear! We drove on to campus to show Bella where mommy and daddy went to college. She was very impressed, so much so that when we drove off she started crying and saying "I want to go to cowege!" Since then she has talked about going to "cowege" quite a bit!

We then made a stop by our favorite chicken place, Chicken Express, YUMMY! We took our food and headed out to Lake Nac. It is our dream to one day own property out there. We figure it's the best of alot of worlds... lake, East Texas, and obviously the close proximity to Nac. Bella loved it out there and we just soaked up the beautiful weather and enjoyed eating our chicken and looking at the water.






We stayed out there for awhile, drove around for quite awhile, and did a massive amount of dreaming!

Saturday morning we got up and got dressed and headed back out to explore and show Bella more of our favorite place. This time we started at the arboretum on campus and walked all through the azalea garden. Oh, the beauty that is East Texas! She had so much fun running around and looking at all the pretty flowers.




"The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth;
One is nearer God's hear in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth."





Azalea's in East Texas are like none other! And they weren't even in full bloom!



After we wandered around the garden we headed over to the Ag Pond and let Bela feed the ducks. I lived in dorms on both sides of the Ag Pond in college and always enjoyed sitting out there.



It's crazy to be sitting out there 11 years later with my 2 year old. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to sit out there with her as a student!

Later in the afternoon our friends Natalie and Gibio got in to town with their girls, Laney and Landry.







We did a little hanging out with "Surfin' Steve".



Later we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the reason we were in Nac. We had a wedding to attend! One of Terry's former soccer players brother was getting married. We have stayed close to the Goodrum family and were so excited to be there to celebrate with them!





Bella was a dancin' queen! She had a blast at the reception!




Terry with 3 of his former Nac soccer players. They are all in college now and JT (far right) is playing college soccer. We love our Nac soccer boys (and girls) are we are always so excited to see them or hear from them. They are very special to us!

On Sunday before we headed out of town we got to eat breakfast with Bill and Patti and their family. It was great to be able to spend extra time with them!

We had a great weekend in Nac and it was the best way to spend our last weekend of Spring Break!

....and they call the thing rodeo

We had a wonderful Spring Break! We mostly relaxed but we did get out a little bit towards the end of the week. I love that Spring time in Houston also brings the rodeo. It's one of my favorite things about living in the Houston area. We had never been during the day during Spring Break and quite honestly I'm not sure we will do it again. The last two years we have just taken Bella during the week in the evening before Spring Break and it hasn't been to crowded. During Spring Break that place is CROWDED! I'm glad we got to go though. We met Mom, Dad, Mema, Papa, Courtney, and Ryan and headed in to pet some animals. Bella loves the animals...alot! She has no fear with them and makes herself right at home with the goats and pigs and llamas.

She also got to see the baby chicks. Tonight she was looking at these pictures, I asked her what she thought baby chicks ate, she said, "cookies". If I was a baby chick, that's what I would want!

Bella went home with Mom and Dad and Terry and I got to stay and meet up with our friends Lori and Adam for some Zac Brown Band. Terry and I sat outside and people watched for a while waiting on them. Interesting mix of people at the rodeo. We had already eaten but when they got there they both had food on a stick so naturally I needed some food on a stick. I got an awesome sausage on a stick. Terry wanted a bite and he DROPPED MY SAUSAGE ON THE GROUND! How are you going to take a pregnant woman's food on a stick and then drop it on the ground. Good thing I looked up and saw some homemade chocolate chip cookies (I would not share these with baby chicks). Oh My Goodness! Lori and I shared a "few" of them. They were hot and gooey and yummy goodness. I had chocolate all over my fingers including under my fingernails. You know those were some GOOD cookies. After I finished eating my "few" cookies we headed inside to listen to some loud and awesome music. Bella had fun spending time with her great and grand parents and cousins and we had fun getting to hang out with our friends!

20 weeks

How Far Along: 20 weeks
Size of baby: about 6.5 inches/size of a banana
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 15 lbs (yikes!)
Maternity Clothes: I'm pretty much into maternity clothes now. Definitely in the pants area. Although my favorite pair of jeans still fit with the rubber band trick. I can still wear most of my regular tops but the belly is getting snug!
Gender: It's a GIRL!
Movement: I'm pretty sure this little girl is practicing her circus acts! She moves a lot but I love it.
Sleep: It comes and goes.
What I miss: Dr. Pepper.....
Cravings: I have discovered Frustista Feezes from Taco Bell. Oh my!! They are some yummy goodness!
Symptoms: I am dead tired!

Best Moment this week: Felling the baby move and getting to hear the heartbeat at the doctor's appointment on Monday. 146 beats per minute!

Don't be jealous of how awesome I look. HA!

Baby Sister is still Baby Sister

Today we had our anatomy scan and got the results of our blood tests (we do blood tests for Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, etc). Thank you Lord that Baby Sister looks fabulous and all the tests run came back negative. We checked to make sure she was still a girl and sure enough she is! She is a wriggly little thing. She was moving all over the place. She was drinking the amniotic fluid and appeared to be rubbing her eye. Bella went with us and was quite nervous at first. She is not a fan of going to the doctor. She kept saying, "Baby Sister gonna be ok." "Mommy gonna be ok." She also thought I should take my clothes off and go weigh. That part was actually hilarious. Apparently she remembers that part of her own doctor's appointments.

The doctor that we go to for our ultrasounds is a high risk doctor. They have awesome equipment and you actually watch the ultrasound on a 37 inch flat screen TV. Bella pretty much talked through the whole thing. Mostly she just wanted to go back to the waiting room and look at the fish in the fish tank. She did get really excited a couple of times. At one point she said, "Baby Sister is coming!!". I think she got much more excited after seeing her on the TV today. The doctor even gave her her very own picture of her feet!

At this time I do have placenta previa. I will go back in 6 weeks to check on it. I have had this since the beginning and they thought it would move. It has not moved yet. If it doesn't move I will have to have a C-section. Not really sure how I feel about that!

She's a mover! I'm feeling her move ALOT and I LOVE it! By far my favorite part of being pregnant! This picture shows her heart rate which was at 150.

16 weeks

How Far Along: 16 weeks
Size of baby: about 4.5 inches/size of an avocado
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained about 11 lbs (yeah, not good!)
Maternity Clothes: I'm pretty much into maternity clothes now. Definitely in the pans area. Although my favorite pair of jeans still fit with the rubber band trick. I can still wear most of my regular tops but the belly is getting snug!
Gender: It's a GIRL!
Movement: I'm feeling some movement. I really love that part.
Sleep: Getting better if I could just get rid of this cold and keep it gone.
What I miss: Dr. Pepper.....
Cravings: I'm hungry most of the time. I'm finding myself craving dairy. That is the same thing I craved with Bella.
Symptoms: I am dead tired!
Best Moment this week: Felling the baby move and getting to hear the heartbeat at the doctor's appointment on Monday. 154 beats per minute!



Oddly I think I looked bigger in my 12 week picture than I do in this one. Who knows. I must have eaten alot that day.