Baby Bump News: 24 Weeks!

24 Week baby bump photo with our baby girl!

And the comparison photo: At 24 Weeks with Austin.

I can't even explain how excited we are to have a baby girl on the way! I have been having fun planning out bedroom decorations, looking at adorable outfits and headbands online, and Josh talks all the time about how protective he already feels over her and loves putting his hand on my belly whenever we are lying down to feel the baby move :).

I have been feeling soooooo exhausted! I thought it was bad the last pregnancy but this time around is so much worse! I think it has to do with chasing Austin around and never getting a chance to catch up on sleep.

It seems like I'm always sick nowadays :(. Almost like this baby is sucking the life out of me and making it impossible to get better! But I'll forgive her for that ;).

Drinking my tea and attempting to heal my sore throat. It's been awful :(.

At work, super sick, and wishing I was home in bed....

Austin loves patting my belly but has no idea what's inside. I've been watching him and wondering how he is going to do with a baby sister. He loves seeing babies and points them out whenever we see one on the TV or when we are out and about. However, when I was babysitting one of his little friends the other day he kept trying to push the kid off my lap and I instantly got worried about bringing a brand new baby into the mix. We will see!

I haven't been craving anything in particular. That might have to do with me being too sick to eat much lately though. I remember with Austin I was really into spicy foods but this time around they give me instant heartburn....

I feel baby girl kicking all throughout the day but I think I remember Austin being a lot more active. Maybe she's still too small for me to feel it? Or maybe our prayers have been answered and she will be much calmer than her older brother?

My pregnancy symptoms have been getting much better in most areas, but sadly, not all. The acne has gone away, HALLELUJAH! And I am no longer a crazy emotional mental case. But sadly I have discovered the joys of hemorrhoids and it seems like I have constant acid reflux and heartburn. My hip also pops out of place whenever it feels like it which makes it really awkward and embarrassing when I am in public and suddenly can't move. I'm also dealing with serious water retention and leg swelling whenever I go to work because I am on my feet all day long. I wear compression socks but they don't help much :(. It's amazing what we go through to bring these little bundles of joy into our lives!

We have been working on picking out a name and think we have chosen a favorite! Now to figure out how we want to spell it....

I got my gym pass back after getting permission from my OB to exercise again. I haven't had any spotting since the first trimester and the placenta has moved up and away from my cervix so he is no longer concerned about it. It feels wonderful to get some stress out but it totally wipes me out afterwards.

And here's a picture of me the morning of my first day of work. You can see how much my belly has grown in just one month! I had woken up early because I was so anxious about starting a new job so I had plenty of time to relax and munch on a doughnut while I watched the morning news :).

Milestones: 17 - 18 Months Old

**We have been so busy with the holidays that I fell behind in my monthly blogging of Austin! So this little excerpt will be about his past two months :).

Dearest Austin, you are becoming more challenging by the day as you strive to exert your independence. However, you are also the most adorable little terror we have ever seen so it is hard to stay mad at you. I am trying to figure out the best way to handle your little outbursts because you have started mimicking everything I do and then I realize I need to control my own anger if I am to try and contain yours. We are a lot alike in that way..... very passionate. I see many extreme power struggles in our future.

You have become such a little social butterfly and you LOVE attention! Especially from women. At the ward Christmas party you spent the entire time running around tapping on all the women and saying hi to them. They of course loved you and you loved the attention they gave you! You do the same thing in restaurants and in sacrament you around socializing with all your friends and collecting snacks from all of their mothers.

You have become very fascinated by my growing belly and are constantly lifting up my shirt to see what's inside. I have no idea how to explain it to you so we just gently pat my stomach and say, "belly!" and leave it at that. Then you run over to your dad to see if there is anything inside his shirt too.... hahaha you crack us up :).

Patting my stomach and saying, "belly!"

The weather has been perfect lately and every day you and I go on an afternoon walk. You don't need your stroller anymore and can actually go quite a long distance before you get tired! Yesterday you insisted on bringing your car with you and pushed it all the way to the park and back. It was so cute! You kept stopping to turn on the music your car plays and then would commence pushing it as fast as you could go until the music stopped and then you would repeat the process. You also love to collect rocks any time we go outside. I find your pockets full of them by the end of the day and you like to store them in little secret places in your room. Whenever I open up something and find a rock I can't help but smile. I love how intrigued you are by the beauty of the world..... even something as simple as a rock!

putting rocks in the trunk every couple yards.

And then off we go again!

For the most part, you have adjusted pretty well to me going back to work. Well, until I did a later shift and didn't come home til 9:00pm.... You were supposed to be asleep by 7:30pm but apparently you missed me so much that you stayed up and cried the entire time saying "momma!" until I got home! I was heartbroken to hear that and see you so upset! So I spent a few hours that night rocking you and singing to you, trying to get you to go to sleep. It was the sweetest moment because you were stroking my face as I sang and quietly whispering, "momma" in my ear :). The hard part was actually getting you to fall asleep because you were scared I was going to leave you again so you freaked out the second I tried putting you into your crib :(. That was a long night and I hope we don't repeat it any time soon....

You love to sit on our laps and read books, sing songs, go for walks, have play dates with all your neighborhood friends, and take baths! We try so hard to keep you busy all the time because your naughty side comes out when you are bored. This makes for two very tired parents by the end of the day!

You have become obsessed with your Baby Einstein shows and to our dismay you want to watch them ALL THE TIME..... we get so sick of them and you have them all memorized but if we don't play them for you, you throw major tantrums and make our lives miserable. We are working on this.... We hope your stubbornness and persistence will help you out later on in life because right now it is something we aren't enjoying so much....

You are the sweetest kid when you play with your friends. I hope I'm not jinxing myself here but while other children are stealing toys from each other and hitting each other when they want something the other child has, you are quietly watching and playing by yourself. You don't seem to have the ability to hurt others like the other kids do. Maybe that's a stage you will go through later on? Like I said, I hope I didn't just jinx it because I love hearing from the other mothers how you are such a joy to have around and how you make their kids look bad whenever they are around you ;).

Playing at your friend Sailor's house while Mom got some much needed sleep for her head cold :).

You love doing anything you see adults doing. That includes, pushing any button like the garage door opener, the play station buttons, the stove, the dishwasher.....  basically anything we don't want you to touch. You have also gotten over your fear of the vacuum and like attempting to push that around with me! You are a huge mess maker but you also enjoy cleaning up the messes. Any time you spill something I hand you a towel and you race over to wipe it up! I'm hoping that little trait continues :).

You don't like being contained. This means we struggle any time we try and put you into your carseat, you no longer want to sit in a high chair, and you even try taking off your diaper if we aren't watching you closely. It is so hard to go anywhere with you because of this. You are such a free spirit....

You went to Nursery at church for the first time today and did fantastic! You played well with all the kids, ate your snack at the table like a pro, and only got whiny towards the end when you started getting sleepy and it was almost time to go home. We spent the whole time with you just to watch you and see how everything went and were excited to see that you won't be needing us in the future :). That means two hours of freedom my friend!

Oh your silly faces....

You instantly found a toy cell phone and car keys and played with them the entire time which didn't surprise us one bit....

You are such a little stud :).

Fun Moments Over the Past Two Months:

Grandpa Porter came over to help with a few handy man things around the house and you LOVED his ladder!

Future handyman :).

Grandma Porter bought you a balloon while she was babysitting you and you had so much fun!

Until it popped.....

You two also had a good time at the park. And of course you made some more silly faces :).

You love pushing this thing in circles. It must make you feel strong haha.

Playing outside on an especially challenging day.

Even though you are a handful, you know how to do the silliest things to make me laugh!

You love to read books.

It feels like you are always teething!

You LOVE your blankies and you love playing in your cupboard in the kitchen. You make such a mess but it keeps you busy so we allow it :).

Cuddling with Momma :).

I LOVE that big cheesy grin!

You love oranges and have a lot of fun peeling them. You become so focused on the task at hand and can't stop until the whole orange is finished..... a trait you may have picked up from your Momma....

We had snow in Henderson! But sadly, by the time we put our coats and shoes on it had already melted :(.

You carry your monkey everywhere and expect us to carry it around as well! This is especially difficult for me to do since my belly takes up a lot of room so now you always go to your dad for that job.

In your happy place :).

Whenever we go to a buffet you always get a sprinkle ice cream cone and it totally makes your day!

Being crazy at gymboree!

Hanging out with Dad at the park.

The Holidays

I'm trying to play catch up here because we have been sooooooo busy over the past two months! If we weren't hosting a holiday and spending every second with family, we were sick and dying on the couch. If we weren't lying on the couch dying, we were working and wishing we were at home lying on the couch dying. Now we are finally getting our health back and the Christmas decorations have officially been put away, so it's time to recap!

Austin and I decorated our Christmas tree together and he loved it! We had the music going, the apple pie scented candle burning, and together we put together a masterpiece which he then went about undecorating and then redecorating over again. Every morning he would run to the tree and say "On!" because he wanted us to turn it on. Once we plugged it in he would then get really excited and say, "OOOoooo! Pretty!"

Austin met Santa for the first time this year! We don't know what he thought of the experience because he made no expression whatsoever.... But he sure liked the cool giant gold key Santa was wearing around his neck :).

The family Christmas picture that never got turned into a Christmas card..... Oh well, someday I will have it all together.....

Along with the decorating, Austin also helped me do some pre-Christmas baking!

His job was to turn on the blender and he took it very seriously.

We made cream cheese danishes on Christmas Eve to put in the oven for breakfast on Christmas morning! They were soooooo delicious and might just be our new yearly tradition!

Like I said before, Austin LOVED our tree! He pulled it down on top of himself more times than I can count and by the end of the holidays we only had half of the ornaments left that hadn't been lost or broken. He's sure a handful but he really made the spirit of Christmas come alive for us this year!

A few days before Christmas my Dad made a surprise visit to see us! Austin has only met his Grandpa Helm once in his life (when he was 6 months old) so it took him a little while to warm up. But once he did, they had a fun time :).

Great Grandma Helm brought Austin that singing snowman and it quickly became his favorite toy! He carried it around with him EVERYWHERE and loved pushing the button to turn the music on and off.

This was the first time my Dad had seen our new house so I had fun showing him around and then we sat in the living room and talked/played with Austin. I could tell the role of being a Grandpa was foreign to him but he warmed up fast to Austin (it's hard not to) and I enjoyed watching them play together on the floor.

Once Josh got home from work, we went out to dinner! Austin was a little terror as usual so we all took turns going outside with him to let him run around while everyone else ate and talked. My Dad seemed fascinated with us and watching us be parents. Like I said, he doesn't come around much and hasn't seen us in this role yet. By the end of the night he told us how proud he was and how good of a job we are doing. He also said how much Austin reminds him of me when I was a baby because of how serious he gets about learning and experiencing new things. I loved having this little experience with him and hope he comes around again soon! It kills me that Austin will grow up not really knowing his blood Grandpa very well......

Showing Grandpa Helm all of his toys.

Christmas Eve was spent with just us three. We watched Christmas movies and went to Panda Express for dinner. While we were there we befriended a homeless guy and bought him some Christmas Eve dinner as well. I spent the rest of the night thinking about all of our many blessings and how grateful I am to have my family together in our cozy home drinking egg nog on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning we woke up to presents from Santa and a yummy breakfast! The best part of the morning was watching Austin and being a part of his excitement :).

Checking out his Stocking and seeing what Santa brought!

Looking over Mom and Dad's stockings to see if there was anything good.

Asking Mom to open up his new toy!

Santa brought him a whole safari full of animals to play with because he knew how much Austin LOVES animals!

My two studs in the new Christmas Jammies sent from Grandma Porter :).

Sitting in Mom's lap while it was Dad's turn to open his gifts....

....then deciding he was taking too long and going over there to open them for him ;). After opening presents and eating breakfast, we got dressed and ready for the rest of the party to show up! Austin and Dad had a lot of fun playing with Austin's toys while we waited ;).

Once Grandma Porter showed up, Austin got to open some of his gifts early! His favorite was this giant stuffed monkey! He had so much fun hugging it, jumping on it, and dragging it all around the house with him :).

Great Grandpa Frank has a long list of ailments that prevents him from coming to a lot of family functions so we were happy he made it to this one!

As usual, the men sat around talking while the women ran around cooking, laughing, and taking lots and lots of pictures!

Picture with Great Grandma Porter!

Hanging out in the kitchen and chatting about my Mom's disgusting fermented drink that she somehow manages to swallow. Oh the things we women do for our health....

Picture with my baby sister! I can't believe she is going to graduate from High School in just a few short months!

Austin and Grandma playing with his new electric truck. He and his Dad spent the entire morning driving this thing around. It was quite the hit!

Awwwweee.... loves :).

This picture captures perfectly how hard it is to get a group photo in my family! There's always too much going on and it is so hard to get everyone to focus! I love it though :).

Sisters, Mommy, and the only grandchild (plus baby in my belly!)

We hardly ever get pictures with Nate because he is usually in the background somewhere trying to keep away from our girly craziness.... ;)

Austin and his new BFF!

Grandma and Grandpa Porter also bought Austin a new table for Christmas! It has been perfect for him and he loves having little picnics at it with his buddy :).

Eating our Christmas feast!

Austin attempting to use his fork to feed himself. He makes such a mess but is determined to not be a baby anymore :(.

We tried getting a good family picture but this is how it went.....

.....so we kicked out the trouble maker and got a good one of Mom and Dad (and sister)!

The next day we had a little Christmas with Great Grandma Helm! We met up with her, Sadie, and my Uncle Ken and Aunt Diana at the Conductor's Room inside the Railroad Pass Casino and enjoyed a wonderful fancy meal together. Or more like everyone else enjoyed their meal while Sadie and I wrestled with Austin and I got all my food to go...

Afterwards we went back to Grandma's house and opened presents!

Josh and Sadie checking out all of Austin's new books.

We love Grandma so much and especially love her generous Christmases!

As you can see, we had quite the Christmas! Sadly, the day after we celebrated with Grandma Helm we got super sick :(. So for two weeks afterwards we were out for the count. That meant that our New Years was extremely pathetic and we were in bed and asleep by 9:00pm. I guess we just partied too hard this year!