Oh, Baby!

Have you heard the buzz?  Our sweet honey is on the way!  Due to arrive February 18th, 2016 :)

I have been keeping a major secret for over 2 months but I finally let the cat out of the bag and man, does it feel good!  We have had 2 ultrasounds on baby #3 and both show a beating heart and a healthy babe, so it was time to tell the world!

I am 12 1/2 weeks along and in the final week of my 1st trimester.  This has, by leaps and bounds, been the EASIEST 1st trimester I've ever had!  There were 2-3 weeks of symptoms.  That's IT.  I was tired, I was battling on and off nausea, by boobs were SO sore (sorry if that's TMI but it's gotta be documented because THEY HURT SO BAD!), I couldn't open the fridge without holding my breath because the smells made me gag so hard.  I couldn't stomach anything other than cereal and even thinking about any meat made me so queasy.  Then one morning (4th of July to be exact) I woke up and every symptom was gone.  Nothing.   I didn't feel pregnant anymore. In all honesty, I was terrified.  I thought I was going to miscarry.  I waited for symptoms to show up but nothing happened.  A week passed and my heightened sense of smell came back slightly, I still couldn't stomach chicken....but compared to before, I felt practically nothing.  The whole drive to the doctor to get my 1st ultrasound on July 13th had me crying. I was so worried I'd hear the dreaded words. I have never experienced a pregnancy with hardly any symptoms before (Lucy and Piper kept me sick, sick, and more sick).  But at 8 AM, there, on the little black and white screen was my tiny baby's beating heart.  It was fast (168!) and strong!  My sweet little baby was OK!  Shawn and I were squeezing hands and my tears were flowing....I REALLY have a baby in there (even though I knew this for over a month, it still felt good to see that everything was FINE). Lucy loved seeing the little blob on the screen.  "It's my baby brother!"  She proudly announced to the doctors.  She ONLY wants a brother.  No more sisters for her, haha.  She said Piper cries too much so she wants a boy to play with. HA!  She cries just as much as Piper....so if boys cry less than girls- sign me up! (I kid, I kid!)  But really, do less symptoms and a 100% different pregnancy mean I'm having a BOY?  We will see... in 6 weeks 4 days.  Not like I'm counting or anything...

Fast forward 4 weeks and practically zero symptoms later and we were surprised with another quick ultrasound on Friday.  Once again, the tiny little flicker on the screen that shows my baby's beating heart was mesmerizing to me and the biggest gift I could be given.  That reassurance that everything is OK when you can't feel life inside you yet is a precious gift.  The swooshing sound of your baby's heart is the sweetest lullaby you'll ever hear.

Sigh.... I didn't mean to make this post long.  But I did it once again....too many words.  Sorry guys....

Anyway- here are our announcement pictures.  I took the girls to the beach with visions of beautiful beachy scenes as they sat still and the viewer of the pictures would later read "Big Sisters" easily in the sand.  I imagined big happy smiles and serenity coming from the girls.....What I got instead was 2 hyper children who wouldn't hold still for a second.  Who couldn't look at the camera at the same time.  Who kept running back and forth in my writing of the words "Big Sisters" as I was writing in the sand so I had to start over MANY times.  I got girls who were kicking sand all over the place and running away from me as I tried to snap some pictures of them next to their announcement....They kept trying to run into the ocean before I even had my camera out!  It was a major fail, but we were on the beach-their HEAVEN- what did I expect??  So we came home, I bought a witty shirt instead, and we all posed together!  That is the story behind the multiple pictures.  I couldn't decide so I used both! Enjoy!

Maisy's shirt says Big Sister too :) 

Piper's debut as a new Big Sister!

In other CELEBRATORY news: Piper is completely potty trained!  (Can I get an AMEN?!) She woke up one Saturday and told me she wanted to be Potty Trained.  I said "Ok" and that was that.  She has had 1 accident since she started.  We stayed home for few days at the beginning before we ventured out without diapers on, but now we've been out of the house multiple times and she's always in panties and has NEVER wet her pants!  I didn't even have to train her, folks.  She trained HERSELF!  When she was ready, she was ready.  There was no turning back.  She goes all by herself and doesn't need any treats anymore.  So now I'll take a diaper break for a few months but then it's right back to stocking up again.  Oh well.  Newborn size diapers are so incredibly adorable :)