The Bird is 26 Weeks Pregnant!

Just a quick update on my pregnancy.  For the most part, everything is pretty status quo.  As far as symptoms go...I've started to experience some mild heartburn every now and then but I can't really complain.  I don't really have any other major GI symptoms.  I've been pretty tired for the past week or two but I'm not sure if it's from my pregnancy or other life circumstances, like my 2 year old being sick and sleeping even crappier than usual.  I'm feeling baby Clara move around quite a bit in there and I'm really enjoying actually being able to push on my belly and feel baby sometimes.  I really don't have much else to report.  Things are just trucking along and she'll be here before we know it!  Here's my belly. It's definitely bigger than it was at this point in Eden's pregnancy.  Click here for comparison.

I look so tired.

Eden had to get in on the fun, as usual.

Eden Amelia is TWO Years Old!

Can you guys believe it's been TWO YEARS since this happened?  

Believe it or not, it's true!  Last Tuesday, February 23, Eden turned two!  

I'm really having a difficult time finding the words to describe our girl.  She's spunky and full of personality.  She's bright and loves to talk, sing, dance, and go, go, go.  She is developing a great imagination and loves to play.  Her favorite activities right now are helping Mommy and Daddy in the kitchen, playing in the sink, taking bubble baths, coloring, singing, dancing, jumping, marching, bouncing, climbing the stairs and generally doing everything herself, and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins when Mommy needs a rest. She hates getting her diaper changed and going to sleep.

She can count to 10 (and sometimes all the way up to 14) only skipping a few numbers or needing some prompting every now and then.  She knows most of her colors most of the time.  She knows a lot of her shapes.  She loves to sing and has learned the words to most of her songs.  Her vocabulary is insane and she cracks us up with some of the things she says, especially when she is repeating us.  I am impressed with how well she listens and am reminded constantly how consistency is important because she is paying attention…it just takes a while for things to sink in sometimes.  One of my favorites right now is how she started singing a little song I made up forever ago trying to remind her to be patient and wait, wait, wait.  She just randomly sang it the other day and it took me a second to figure out what she was saying.  When I figured it out, I was like, "Wow!"  She isn't able to say the "k" or "hard c" sound making some words pretty interesting.  My current favorite is "shark" sounding exactly like "shart." LOL

About a month before her birthday, Eden had a doctor's appointment to clear her for eye surgery.  Her growth measurements at that time were a weight of 24 3/4 pounds and a length of 32 1/2 inches.  I don't know where that puts her on the growth charts but I think she's pretty average in height and weight.  It's crazy to think she's only gained 3 pounds since her first birthday but you can really tell how much she's leaned out when you look at pictures even as recent as September.  

Anyways, I'll spare you any more words and leave you with some of my favorite pictures of the birthday girl!

Eden loves to sing "Happy to you" (as she calls it) and has really enjoyed singing it multiple times this week.  I have an adorable video of her singing along on her birthday but it won't load. I'll try again later!

The Bird is 24 Weeks Pregnant!

It is definitely a challenge to get a good belly shot these days.  If I can even put myself together enough to look remotely presentable, all the stars have to align for the picture to actually get taken.  Then, we have to hope and pray that Eden will cooperate.  She wasn't very cooperative today but we did manage to get one or two decent pictures.  Looking at my belly from a third person perspective confirmed what I was suspecting--that I am carrying differently this time (at least right now).  As of about 6 weeks ago, I felt like my bump looked exactly the same as it had at the same point when I was pregnant with Eden but now, it's definitely looking different!  See for yourself!  Here is a link to my 24 week post with Eden's pregnancy.  And here is my belly today…

As usual, Eden had to get in on the fun and show her belly, too.  There's a baby in her belly, too, you know!

My pregnancy symptoms mainly consist of increased fetal movement (Yay!), rare heartburn, peeing a lot, and super vivid and weird dreams. I'm going to leave this short and sweet because it's actually the next morning now and I have a little helper trying to type for me.

The Long Awaited Name Reveal

Ever since we found out that our sweet baby #2 is a girl, the questions I get asked the most revolve around her name…"Have you picked a name?"  "Do you know what you'll name her?"  "What's her name?"  Since I can't pass up an opportunity to make a big deal out of everything, I decided to have a photo shoot to announce the long-awaited name.  So, this morning, Kerrisa of Kerrisa Joelle Photography & I spent an hour getting some great images of my bump with some fun accessories (thanks Pinterest).  Here are a few of my favorites…

So, there it is - Clara Randolph!  This was one of our name choices when we had Eden and I've just continued to fall more and more in love over the last two years.  Clara is significant to me because of Clara Barton and Clara, the main character in the Nutcracker Ballet.  It means "clear" or "bright."  Randolph is my middle name, my Daddy's first name, and his aunt's middle name.  I'm so excited to meet her in about 17 weeks!