2014 in Review

January:

The hubby and I took a kid free vacation to go skiing at our favorite spot Crested Butte. We had a blast, but seriously missed our baby boy. Can’t wait until 2016, when we plan to take Mason on his first ski trip.

Mason turned 1 and we celebrated with all of our friends and family. Mason was so excited about having all of the attention and he especially loved his CAKE!! Life in 2014 was just beginning and we were already enjoying the little things.

February:

We had a fabulous Valentine’s Day with our two sweet babies. Mason was looking very GQ and cruising the entire house for kisses.

We also started noticing Mason was having several allergic reactions and my poor baby had a rash on his face almost constantly.

March:

We started to prepare for summer and Mason was right there helping his Daddy out to build all of the new projects. We also took Mason to an allergist and found out our poor baby had several allergies to different food items. Life changes.

April:

We had our first Easter egg hunting experience. Mason didn’t quite understand that no one was going to take away his eggs, but he loved holding them and later discovering the surprises that were inside.

We celebrated my 30th Birthday party with a lot of friends in VEGAS!!! We ate a lot of good food, gambled and went to some fun shows. We will leave it at that.

May:

Summertime fun time began!! We had so much fun going to the lake in May. Mason loves riding in the boat, even though most of the time he would fall asleep.

We took Mason to see some Lions and Tigers. He wanted to make friends with them so bad. It was fun to watch his excitement. We might even need to take him back this summer.

June:

I was in one of my closest friends wedding. It was wonderful and he is super lucky to have married such a wonderful woman!

We spent sometime in June with family. Hanging out at the pool and going to baseball games together. It was a great month for family. Mason especially loves his Papaw.

July:

July was spent in the pool!! Mason loves swimming and I cannot wait until 2015 to get him going on swim lessons.

August:

August was another big, fun month. We found out we were expecting baby #2, even though we didn’t tell anyone for a long time. We took Mason and his best friend to a local fire station to see the fire trucks. Those boys loved every second, especially the brooms.

September:

Michael and I took another kid free vacation to St. Thomas this month. It was amazing and we needed some R&R. We decided 7 days is TOO long to stay away from Mason and it was probably our last vacation completely kid free. I am pretty sure Mason starting in 2015 will be old enough to really enjoy a vacation with us.

October:

Football season was in full swing in October and we don’t miss a game. We always go with my parents since they have season tickets too.

Mason got to go fishing in October with his cousin Hadley, while Mama got some much needed rest, from being so sick with Baby #2.

November:

We got ready for Christmas, by taking Mason to see the local Christmas lights. He loves the lights. Our neighbors still have them up and we have to drive all the way around the block to see them all. I think he will be a little disappointed when they are gone.

We also got to see our newest addition on the big screen and he/she looks great. 2015 is going to bring great additions and surprises.

December:

December is the best month of all. Christmas time, family time, Daddy’s birthday! The list for December could go forever.

Wooooo Piiiggg Sooie!!

Arkansas – 31

Texas – 7

Enough said.

Week 23 – Baby #2

How far along? 23 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 12 lbs. according to home scale
Maternity clothes? Lets get comfy. Stretchy pants are my new best friend.
Stretch marks? No-Thank goodness and applying lotion like it is going out of style.
Sleep: If I had answered this before last night I would have said pretty good. But I have gotten a cold and last night was rough. It was rough for everyone. I kept hearing Mason, Michael got up a few times…we were all restless.
Best moment this week: I have absolutely loved getting to spend the week with Mason and Michael. Christmas was fun. Mason’s excitement for unwrapping presents, and playing with new toys was wonderful.
Miss Anything? I feel super blessed for the last week, so I can’t complain about missing anything.
Movement: We have a mover and shaker. She/He loves to stay calm during the day, but the second I lay on my back she/he starts jumping around and flipping.
Food cravings: I seriously could eat sweets instead of real food for every meal. It is so bad for me but tastes so good.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Heartburn. End of story. It is bad especially at night. The constant burning in my throat is keeping me up. Tums.
Feelings: I am feeling like things are slowing down. My stomach is getting larger and larger, but I feel like April is so far away.         
Gender: Not finding out. Yay for surprises!
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: My emotions are completely in check now.
Looking forward to: Mason’s birthday party is in a few weeks and I have to get with the planning. I can’t wait to have a 2yr old! I can’t believe two years ago we were waiting to see when he would arrive and now he is going to become a big brother in 2015!! It is just so crazy to this Mama.

Merry Christmas

 

Week 22 – Baby #2

How far along? 22 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 11 lbs. From my Doctor’s appointment.
Maternity clothes? Oh I give up. Stretchy pants are just better. I am wearing a lot of leggings these days and boots. So comfy.
Stretch marks? No-Thank goodness and applying lotion like it is going out of style.
Sleep: Sleep has been off. I have had some pain in the last week. They think it is from stretching and ligament pain. I am tossing and turning a lot more than I have been. I am hoping it will improve with time, but probably not until this baby is out.
Best moment this week: Any week I get to go to the doctor and hear the baby’s heartbeat is the best.
Miss Anything? Sleeping on my back.
Movement: This baby loves to move right when I want to go to sleep. Mason was always calm at night except 4AM. This baby loves to bust a move right at 10-11pm.
Food cravings: Can I have chocolate and ice cream for every meal? Michael even made a comment about how much sweets I am eating these days.
Anything making you queasy or sick: When I eat too much I feel queasy and now I am having heartburn pretty bad and that makes me a little queasy.
Feelings: I feel like this baby is a girl…mostly because it is completely different from my first. Heartburn is starting earlier. Heartbeat is slower than Mason by 20 beats every single time. The baby is sitting so much lower…my skin is crazy breaking out.        
Gender: Not finding out. Yay for surprises!
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: My emotions are completely in check now.
Looking forward to: I am looking forward to Christmas for obvious reasons. I am kind of looking forward to make next OB appointment. We will be scheduling my c-section at the next appointment. That will definitely make it real! It is odd to think I get to pick my baby’s birthday! I have an idea of what day we will try and do it, but won’t know for sure until we schedule it next time.

Hubby Turning 31…

Happy 31st Birthday to the best husband, father, and friend this girl could ever ask for. It is official when you hit 30 you are in your 30s but 31 makes it real. You are by far the best thing that ever happened to me. I can’t believe we met almost 9 years ago and now have been married 4 years, have a wonderful toddler and another baby on the way. I bet if I had asked you at 22 what you thought your life would be like at 31, this was not it. Keeping it real! We have grown together in so many ways, and become people I am super proud of. Mason loves you more than anything. Proof was this morning when all he wanted to do was snuggle up to you.

We have had a great year and gotten to do a lot of fun things together, as always. I cannot wait to see what next year will hold for us. The adventure we are on is about to get more fun!

Christmas Card

Well, Christmas and Thanksgiving kind of came on so fast this year, that we didn’t have time to schedule time to get our typical professional pictures. I feel like it would have been hard to find a good time and really with Michael and I traveling almost every week we had no free time. A few weeks ago, we went to my Mom’s house for her birthday. I had her take my camera and snap a few pictures. We were literally outside for less than 5 minutes. I was hoping for one or two good shots out of the few we got. Thankfully, we got several. Now I am hoping before this baby is born we can get some family photos done by our friend and professional photographer.

 

Week 21 – Baby #2

How far along? 21 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs. (according to home scale) No change from last week.
Maternity clothes? I am giving in and embracing the maternity clothing or at least the pants. I still fit into 3 pair of jeans, but I am giving in. The elastic band on the maternity pants is just so much better.
Stretch marks? No-Thank goodness and applying lotion like it is going out of style.
Sleep: I am sleeping okay. Most nights I get 8-10 hours of sleep. I have been having some back pain lately and it is hard to find a comfortable position. I am a back sleeper and with Mason I never seemed to have a problem, but I can tell sleeping on my back is ending soon.
Best moment this week: Michael got to feel the baby move. She/he moves a lot at night and especially if I lay on my back. Obviously the baby doesn’t like that position either. The baby has been getting stronger with its movements, so I was sure he would be able to feel. I can’t wait for Mason to feel.
Miss Anything? I am missing having a drink. We went to a Christmas party Friday night and boy did I want a really good glass of wine. 
Movement: Oh yes, the movement is there. The baby is still very low, so most movement I feel is into my bladder. Jerk. She/he loves my bladder and it is the weirdest feeling to get a kick there. I am loving the stronger movement, even though they aren’t happening very often when they do happen I cannot miss them.
Food cravings: I have cravings, but they are more when someone is talking about food, I want the talked about food. I haven’t had any cravings where I need it right this second. I didn’t have that with Mason either.
Anything making you queasy or sick: This was a good week at home, so nothing making me ill.
Feelings: I know this sounds crazy, but I am so over being pregnant. I think with Mason I was just so excited about the whole process that I didn’t care about anything. This time around, I dislike the growing midsection. I think about how far away April is from today, even though it will be here before I know it. I need to work on enjoying this, because it is definitely my last pregnancy.       
Gender: Not finding out. Yay for surprises!
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Happy or Moody most of the time: My emotions are completely in check now.
Looking forward to: I am looking forward to Christmas, and next week. Next week is OB appt to check on everything, which is always FUN and I am off of work ALL week, also FUN! I am traveling two days this week to San Francisco for work and Friday is a crazy day full of appointments, which means time is going to fly by…hopefully.

I am laughing so hard, because Mason is talking to his baby. He talks about “her” all of the time. He think he is getting a Sissy, so we will see if he gets what he wants.

Week 21 Comparison – Mason on the Left and Baby 2 on the Right.

It’s beginning to look a lot like…

Christmas!! I think Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I love decorating for the holiday and usually don’t wait until after Thanksgiving. We decorate the inside and outside each year. Now that we have Mason, it makes decorating take on a whole new meaning. We have even started new fun traditions. We decorated some gingerbread houses one night. It was a lot of fun. Mason mostly enjoyed eating the candy and icing and definitely got hyped up on sugar and didn’t want to go to bed. Next year I will remember to do it during the daytime, not as an after dinner activity. I have also decided this year, that we are going to have a holiday movie night. I can’t decide when we will get a chance to do it. I would say on Christmas Eve, but that’s when we typically go to my parents house for Christmas. We come home that night in order for Santa to find us at home, but that leaves a late night at Nana and Papaws. Maybe we could do it there. We have started one other tradition. New Christmas themed books. This year we got Mason the Polar Express. He loves us to read it to him. He also loves the Disney Christmas Carol. We read almost all of both each night lately. Yummy Icing. He is definitely my child…I was eating as much as he was. I think that this was easier when I was a kid. The icing dries quickly for anyone planning this in the future. Ice then place the candy. Sprinkling doesn’t cause it to stick. Another fun tradition that we will carry over to Mason, is going to look at the Christmas lights. I love Christmas lights. I could drive around nightly and look at the lights. Mason’s love for the lights is super hard to express into words. It is wonderful to see that much excitement going on in his eyes. I want to take him to see Santa soon. I cannot wait to see his reaction this year. It should be good! I am betting tears and fear. But who knows. I plan to tell him he is like a Papaw. Mason spotted an airplane flying over. He loves airplanes as much as the lights. Off roading with Papaw! Standing in the middle of a giant Christmas Tree! My favorite Christmas tradition that Michael and I started years ago. We always collect ornaments when we travel different places. It is fun to pick one out when we are on vacation and then each year it is great putting those on the tree and remembering our past trips. We added three new ornaments this year. I almost forgot about our ski trip in January…seems so long ago. But here are a few of the new ones and some of my favorites.