One Down, Two to Go!

Trimesters, that is! As of yesterday, I have entered the glorious 2nd trimester! This is the fun one of pregnancy, although I also don't have too many complaints about the 3rd.

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant and I started to think about the first trimester and how not ready I was to go through that again. The constant sleepiness and dreaded sickness, the constant worrying about miscarriage risks. The memories were still fresh on my mind from going through this a year ago and the end of October felt so far away!

Well, I've arrived on the other side! Here is my first trimester recap. This pregnancy, I really wanted to keep a good record of pregnancy as I have already realized just how much I forgot from the first one. So I am making a mini-scrapbook of sorts, with a weekly picture and memories from that week. I will spare you the details of the week, but thought I would share my weekly pictures!

3 Weeks: The week that 2 lines showed up!

4 Weeks: The week that Oh My Gosh - Baby Eli is the big brother!

5 Weeks: The 1 Month Belly Shot (pictured further down in the post)

6 Weeks: The Late 5 Year Anniversary Trip where baby made us very aware that s/he was along for the ride - BLAH!

7 Weeks: The week where I was hungry, and then I was sick, and then I was STARVING. The week where I was sneaking snacks in the middle of the night and eating big snacks before bed to try to fend off the hunger for a few hours of sleep (yes this was a before bed snack)

Week 8: The week we first saw our little miracle!

Week 9: Belly Shot for Month #2 (posted further down)

Week 10: The week baby is the size of a Kumquat, and we discovered what a Kumquat was!

Week 11: The week the stomach bug hit and mommy lost 5 lbs, making her weight gain look much better at her 12 week appointment.

Week 12: 3 Month Belly Shot (posted below)

Week 13: The end of Trimester #1, and for sure feeling my little peach size baby wiggling around!

And for those who like to see the progression. Here are my first 3 months worth of belly shots - not too exciting yet, but we're slowly getting a bump :)

18 Months

I don't know how it is possible, but Malachi is now 18 months. 18 months just really makes it feel like the end of babyhood. Now the pediatrician is talking to us about potty training, and speaking in sentences, and preschool. Can't I have him stay a baby for a little bit longer?

As much as I don't like him growing, Malachi is and has always been an independent child who is constantly wanting to learn and develop. As much as I could try, there is no holding him back. He is eager to learn and we just go with it!

Malachi is slowing down a bit in the growth department. He is now 33 1/2" tall (75-90%) and 27 lbs 13 ounces (50-75%). I kind of question the accuracy of the height one because the kid is growing! He has been quickly outgrowing 2T clothes and is wearing quite a few 3T outfits lately.

Developmentally he continues to stay above the curve. I lost count after he hit about 35 words and his newest thing is letters (as I mentioned in a latter post). He loves learning his letters so we are going with that right now and encouraging him! My favorite thing that he does right now is he is constantly applauding himself. He closes a door, he claps. He stacks blocks, he claps. The boy has no shortage of confidence in his abilities :)

Our pediatrician did mention that we might want to start thinking about preschool for him. I looked at her like she is crazy, because well, he is still my baby! But she said for a child like him, she thinks it would be really good for him for the social interaction and because keeping him at home, he is going to get bored and preschool would be a nice challenge for him. It is definitely something for us to think about, but we still have awhile before we really need to worry about that :)

We are going to start really trying with the potty training again. He was doing a pretty good job with it a few months ago, but morning sickness was a horrible combination with the potty training so I stopped. We are going to get back at it and hopefully get one kid out of diapers before we add another one to the ranks :)

Otherwise, Malachi just continues to be a huge delight! His personality is really just awesome and he is constantly cracking Peter and I up by his antics! And well, he is just so darn adorable that you can't help but want to squeeze him! The other night he was coming over to me and would give me a kiss on the cheek (complete with lip smacking) and then he would lay his head on a pillow on the floor and pretend to snore. Then he would pop back up and do it all over again - he is too sweet!

We celebrated his 18 Month Birthday with brownies and Ice Cream. He thought it was pretty good and kept saying "mmmm, num num!"

We love you big guy :)

Fall Photo Shoot

Wow, time does not seem to be slowing down at all! But I can't really complain too much about that!

Over the course of the summer we completed Malachi's readoption process. Having that step of the process behind us was a huge relief! But, that left us with one more piece of the puzzle to complete - US Citizenship. Fortunately for an adopted child, the process is pretty much just gathering paperwork and filling out forms (and paying fees of course!). Of all the paperwork we have filled out, for some reason this one felt like the one that would kill me. But I am happy to report that it did not in fact kill me, and this past week we mailed off that final stack of paperwork. We are hopeful (as long as I did everything right!) that this process should be complete in early December!

I also had my 12 week OB appointment yesterday! It feels like pregnancy is flying by and I am so happy that the second trimester is quickly approaching! Like perfect clockwork (as opposed to LAST time) the morning sickness disappeared between weeks 11-12! But so far everything is looking great! The baby was hiding super low and so hearing the heartbeat proved difficult at first. I carried Elias very low the entire pregnancy so that leaves me wondering if I just carry low in general. Not that I am complaining about that! Carrying low meant that I never got that "big"! But eventually, after a little coaxing the baby popped up higher and I got to hear that amazing sound that is proof of the miracle growing inside me! Even though I JUST did this a few months ago, this whole process amazes me! My doctor gave me what sounded like a pretty confident guess on gender based on the heartbeat (although we will NOT be finding out, repeat will NOT be finding out, okay Peter!) and I was sent on my way!

My energy is returning and I am starting to feel normal again just in time for my favorite season! I love fall! I love the return of the rain and cool nights and the anticipation of the holiday's around the corner! To document my favorite time of the year we decided it was time for another photo shoot! The boys weren't the most cooperative (namely, a certain little 17 month old) but we did the best we could and still ended up with some great photos in the end :)

I love my family :)

The Kid Is A Sponge!

Okay, I know it was inevitable, but Malachi is growing up. Seriously, isn't he starting to look like such a big boy?!?

I look at this picture and just think, he looks like a KID! What is happening to my baby?!?

I mean, kids do things like this - the cheesy smile for the camera:

So, since I can't stop it I decided it was time to embrace that he is growing. His mind is SUCH a sponge right now. He is constantly trying to imitate the words I say and he is trying to do more things for himself. He tries to take his clothes off by himself and help put his clothes on. He wants to brush his hair and his teeth by himself. He wants to help with Eli, like feeding him snacks and putting his bib on him or helping with diaper changes (which Eli always gets an "eeewww" from big brother!)

So with the morning sickness passing, I decided it was time to help Malachi make some changes! With Elias eating more and more, it was time to move Eli into the highchair and give Malachi a booster at the table. I was not sure how this would work out, but he was so excited as I told him he was a big boy and got to sit at the table with mommy! I had visions of the tray getting thrown to the floor, but so far he has done awesome!

Another part of this big boy at the table, is letting him self feed. He has been ready for awhile, but while I was sick it was just easier for me to do it. It is a tad bit messier but he does a pretty awesome job of it. The biggest challenge has been teaching him to always use the spoon and to keep his other hand out of the bowl. But boy is he proud of himself :)

After he eats we have started working on letter flashcards. Malachi has a slight obsession with Sesame Street. I have started to notice that he says the letters when they are on the screen. His favorite is to say "J Jump!" My mom and I were at the mall the other day and he was noticing the signs and saw an O and pointed at it and then saw a J and pointed at it. I was pretty much amazed. Awhile ago I was at Target and noticed in the dollar section that they had a bunch of different types of flashcards. I picked up a bunch of different packs and one of them is for letters. I figured eventually we would use them, but with his new obsession with letter I figured why not pull them out. So for now, we are working on 4 of his letters and once he gets the hang of all of them, I will start adding in more. He LOVES working on flashcards after meals!!!

I am actually really enjoying this phase with Malachi. Of course, it comes with temper tantrums as he is really wanting to flex those independent muscles but he is so eager and ready to learn new things right now!

8 Months

Since I failed at Eli's 7 month update, I figure this will be a combined 7 AND 8 month update for him! I still can't believe it has already been 8 months since I gave birth to that little love bug!

7 Month Pictures

8 Months

Since we don't return to the doctor until his 9 month check-up I am not sure what he weighs, but he still seems like such a peanut to me (at least compared to his brother). He is moving into 6-9 month clothes, which btw is what Malachi came home in and was outgrowing by 4 months, so Eli will always seem like a peanut to me :) But I did have to carry him shopping the other day and he is starting to get heavy :)

He continues to have his content and overall happy attitude. He may not smile easily for strangers but it doesn't take much work for mommy and daddy to get a smile :) Truly, if he is fussy there is something he needs. He is either hungry or tired or wants his diaper changed. I feel like the luckiest mother in the world to have two easy going babies!

We try to keep an 8:00 bedtime around here, but both boys seem to be going down closer to 7:30 these days. Elias is like clockwork though and wakes up somewhere between 6:30-7:00 every morning. I try not to complain, because he is still a really good sleeper but I would love it if he would decide to sleep another hour in the morning :)

He is holding steady at 2 naps a day. Eli and I get to hang out all morning together and usually by 9 he is ready for his first nap, just about the same time that Malachi decides to wake up. He sleeps about 2 hours at each of his naps and if I am lucky I can get the boys to cross over about an hour in the afternoon for nap time!

He eats about 3 meals of baby food a day. He is now eating Stage 3 foods at dinner. He is doing awesome with finger foods and loves his puffs! He has also tried lots of things we eat - Macaroni and Cheese, mashed potatoes, kernels of corn, grilled cheese, chicken noodle soup, and yesterday he even ate my egg sandwich :) For not having any teeth he does an awesome job of mashing things up with his gums! As far as bottles, he is still drinking 4 - 6 ounce bottles per day and we have introduced the sippy cup which to my amazement he figured out how to use right away!

Milestones he has accomplished in the last 2 months. His first babble word was Mama. I was very happy that he uttered that word first since anytime I try to get Malachi to say Mama, he says Daddy to torment me. So at least I get the glory that Eli said Mama first (even if just a day later he started saying Dada). About a month ago he started getting up on his knees and crawling backwards. Then he would get up and rock back and forth and in the last couple weeks he has started army crawling. If we really want to see that boy move, we put a puff on the floor and he zooms towards it! Two mobile boys - lots of fun times in our future. Fortunately I think Malachi pretty well baby proofed everything :)

Okay, I am sure I have pretty much bored to death all my blog readers, but I seriously want to document everything I can remember because they are growing WAY too fast!

And for fun, I watch Elias sleep on the video monitor. For some reason this kid rolls over funny and it always looks like he is going to dislocate his arm. Well, last night he did his funny roll over and stayed twisted on his arm. It is kind of hard to see, but his arm is tucked awkwardly under him. After we snapped the picture, Peter went in and fixed him :)

The MASSIVE Blog Update

Okay, I know I have been gone for way too long, but I have good reason :) I have been very busy!

So I will give you a quick update on all the happenings in our lives!

1) You probably already noticed my new blog design! I have been wanting to do a custom design for quite some time, and I finally bit the bullet and am so happy with how it turned out! If you want a new design please check out my friend Lauren's design site. The link can be found by scrolling down the blog, left hand bottom :)

2) Peter and I went to Disneyland and had a great time! I had no idea just how badly I would miss the boys, but it was still so nice to get away and NOT have any responsibility for a few days! It was a bit of a rough trip for me (see #7) but we still had a really good time!

3) Elias turned 7 months (mommy fail by not doing that update!) and is just about to hit the 8 month mark. He is really starting to figure out the crawling thing and we are going to have two mobile babies very soon!

4) Malachi is 17 months and will be 18 months very soon. I can't believe how quickly he is growing. He is starting to learn his letters (thank you Sesame Street) and just seems like such a big boy now. Oh well, I can't keep him small forever (not that he was ever "small").

5) I have been really enjoying Pinterest and have been less and less enthused by Facebook. In the coming weeks I hope to try some of the more crafty projects but for now, I have tried some of the recipes. I would not be a good friend if I did not pass this one on for your enjoyment: Sopapilla Cheesecake

And now for the BIG things that have happened in our life:

6) Peter PASSED his CPA exams!!! Seriously, I know some of my blog readers were praying for us in this area so I can't thank you enough! This summer was HARD, with me juggling the kids all the time while Peter hit the books none stop, but it paid off big time! We didn't even realize how there has been this balloon of pressure hovering over us for the past 3 years and now that ball of stress has blown away and we can finally move on with our lives :) It feels pretty darn good! For the first time in our lives together, Peter will not be studying for something and we can actually just live! God really made it clear to us 3 months ago that we needed to buckle down and get this thing done. We didn't fully understand the urgency at the time, but now with big update #7 we understand why:

#7)

Yes, that would be another baby you see there! At the beginning of August we discovered that we would be adding another member to our family. To say I spent a few weeks in shock would be a total understatement. But then the morning sickness showed up and that quickly gave me a dose of reality that this WAS happening! A few weeks ago we went in for our ultrasound and getting to see your baby for the first time, well there just isn't much equal to it in the world. I was a huge ball of nerves going in, just afraid that something would be wrong, but everything looked perfect and it is just so cool to see this teeny tiny little blob of a baby with a little heart beating away!

We have an official due date of April 25th, but with Elias coming a month early we are definitely at an increased risk of another premature delivery. As the pregnancy progresses that will be of bigger concern. I will do everything in my power to avoid another NICU stay.

As I approach the second trimester, the morning sickness has let up drastically. I was disappointed that the second pregnancy came with morning sickness too, but it is going away a full 10 weeks earlier than it went away last time so I can't complain :)

There you go. Now that the exhaustion and nausea are subsiding, I will definitely do a better job of blogging!