Week 15

This week had some super highs and super lows. Ryder made up for the lows by turning 18 months old. I can't believe my baby is a year and a half old. I can't believe he's going to be a big brother, and I can't believe how big HE is. He'll go to nursery this week, AH! As for the pregnancy, I've been trying to eat healthy, even when craving strikes. I'm sure it's easier, too because Tyler isn't home. I don't want to have to go get my own craving. It's not nearly as fun that way!

How far along: 15 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: not sure
Maternity clothes: I bought 3 shirts that were super cheap at Target, and also ordered some from Gap.com that ended up only being $10/piece. I got 3 shirts and a pencil skirt. Yay for sales!
Stretch marks: no
Sleep: getting better, most mornings I wake up before Ryder now. It's nice having a little alone time before starting my day.
Best moments this week: Ryder LOVES belly buttons, but I was able to teach him "where's the baby?" and he rubs my belly and gives it hugs instead of jabbing my belly button. So sweet <3
Movement: I'm thinking yes, but it's soooo hard to distinguish!
Morning sickness: nope!
Cravings: Italian ice, fruits and vegetables. I really loved my spinach, apple, strawberry, red onion salad this week. I REALLY wanted shoe-string fries with jalapeno ranch allll week, but I didn't do it. Kinda proud.
Food aversions: Mexican. I see a billboard and get sick. It's annoying!
Gender prediction: Boy
Showing yet: Yep, but it seems like it's spreading out more instead of being straight out. Maybe I'm crazy.
Labor signs: no
Belly button in or out: in
What I miss: feeling cute in clothes. Everything seems to hug in weird/not attractive places, my jeans are killin' me, but maternity clothes are too big. I also miss Dr. Pepper sometimes, even the caffeine free doesn't cut it.
Milestones this week: appointment to find out the baby's gender on the 10th!

Well, since I blogged a day late, and I already went to my appointment....
We went, the guy was SUPER impersonal. I just kept thinking.. I'm PAYING for this? After we left, I was pretty sure he didn't even introduce himself when we went back. Anyway.. baby's legs were crossed. We spent most of the time turning from side to side and bouncing on my belly and it was a no-go. Legs crossed, and weren't opening. I thought he may have me walk around and come back but it was a very dry- "go reschedule, it's not gonna show us". It was disappointing. It took everything I had to reschedule and wait until I was outside to cry. A technician with emotion or care on top of an already sad time was more than I can handle. We'll see if we can get it next time. :/

Week 14

This week: I was an emotional wreck. I'm sure my husband's glad he's working away missing all of my craziness. Hormones are killin' me. 5 days until he's home.. I can do it!

How far along: 14 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I don't even own a scale, I'll save that for the Dr's office.
Maternity clothes: I haven't worn anything this week. Mostly just jersey knit capris and skirts and I may or may not stay in pajamas most days... I am contemplating ordering some maternity clothes from Gap sale, since there's an extra 25% off today. We'll see.
Stretch marks: No new ones... in new spots at least.
Sleep: A little better, I realized I only sleep bad when Tyler's gone. (so most of the time)
Best moments this week: Tyler was on a job 3 hours from home, so we went on a little road trip for 4 days to visit and see him. He was working night shifts so we didn't see him tons, but the hour or two was so much better than not seeing him at all. He commented on my belly a few times. I think we're both shocked at how much quicker I'm showing this time than last.
Movement: Not yet!
Morning sickness: No, but I did feel really nauseated all day the other day.
Cravings: Oddly enough I craved Taco bell for two days, but got over that really quick, dreamcicles, and lots of fruit!
Food aversions: Still Mexican. We went to a Cinco De Mayo play date the other day and I had Mexican, I felt so awful the whole rest of the day. I'm still so bummed about it.
Gender prediction: I'm so up in the air. The closer I get to finding out the sex, the more I'm questioning myself. I think girl but have been telling myself boy, maybe to prepare myself just in case. ;)
Showing yet: Yes, ugh!
Labor signs: No
Belly button in or out: In
What I miss: Being a no-stopper while traveling. I had to stop to eat and pee on a short 3 hour drive. I was also so uncomfortable, my back was killing me by the time I got there.
Milestones this week: We hit the 2nd trimester mark. By far my (and I'm sure most every one's) favorite trimester. Not too fat still, feeling pretty good and get to find out the sex of the baby. Exciting!

Week 13

So I've been looking for a weekly pregnancy questionnaire and found one I liked on a blog. I'm excited to cover all of the bases with a few questions and to be able to go back and look at past weeks when I'm huge, and when the baby is actually here :).

How far along: 13 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 4lbs since last Dr. visit (1lb/week) yikes.
Maternity clothes: I wore a pair of maternity capris this week, they were so comfortable. Most of my maternity clothes are still way too big though. My jeans our feeling more and more snug, even with the rubber band trick. I'm loving jersey knit skirts and dresses!
Stretch marks: I really wouldn't know if another one was added to the mix ;)
Sleep: Super sucky. I have crazy dreams when I'm not pregnant but these have been nuts. I'm talkin' murder, whole entire funeral services including the talks and songs, etc etc. My mind is a scary place to be during night time.
Best moments this week: Spending the week with Tyler. I love when he's home from work. He couldn't believe how my body changed in just two weeks. OH, and going to Sweet Tomatoes, I've been craving that for weeks!
Movement: None yet, I've heard you feel it sooner with the 2nd, but I'm not sure how soon that is. I can't wait!
Morning sickness: None, I just get really sick if I don't eat first thing.
Cravings: Cheez-its (yeah, I just looked at the box sitting next to me for the spelling), root beer floats and tuna/lettuce/pickle sandwiches.
Food aversions: ALL Mexican. To test me, Tyler asked "if we went to Vegas, you're telling me you wouldn't even eat Macayos?" No. ah. gag.
Gender prediction: Girl. I thought I wanted a girl last time but KNEW it was a boy. This time, I want a girl, and feel like it just may be.
Showing yet: Yes. How is this fair? My friends who are weeks ahead of me have flat bellies still. This 2nd baby thing is no joke.
Labor signs: No
Belly button in or out: In
What I miss: Dr Pepper, good sleep, fitting in my bras
Milestones this week: I went to the Dr. today, everything was normal, and baby's heart beat was at 165. He said he's still optimistic for a girl since it's still on the high-side. We'll see!

We make cute kids, I can't help it.

So I know the world (or my couple hundred friends/family on facebook) probably already heard, maybe more times than they wanted, BUT here's another. We're pregnant. Yeah, no one saw that coming, did they? We were so back and forth about having another, but it's just like Mormon law. Kids two years apart, I didn't want to upset anyone. ;)
But in all seriousness. It was actually kind of a surprise to us. Let's face it. I see my husband one week a month, the numbers weren't on our side for this one. Good thing the Lord was. We couldn't be more happy, or feel more blessed. This one could be our last. Tyler wanted one kid, I want{ed} 4, this is somewhere in the middle for both of us and I just can't see being pregnant again with more than one toddler running around. How do you ladies do it?!

Tyler really wanted to wait until we knew what we were having before telling the world. Our parents, my brother and a couple friends knew and he thought that was plenty. I, on the other hand can't keep my own secrets for the life of me. Seriously, I tell on myself all the time. But as this little nugget grew, and as I was proving to be one of those 'you show way sooner with the 2nd than the first because you didn't work out a day after having your first and you have no stomach muscles'.. ok, I added that last part. But really, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that there's really no where but out that this thing can go, but I KNOW I wasn't looking like this already the last time. So, I begged enough, maybe made a good trade in return and he agreed to let me spill the beans.

Anyway, I'm 12 weeks as of yesterday. I'm pretty sure I made it through the worst bits. When I was about 6 weeks we went to a mexican joint and I was up the whole night revisiting my dinner. I had never experienced morning sickness with Ryder, it was awful and I'm more than grateful that it was a one-time deal. Biggest problem? I haven't wanted anything to do with Mexican food since. Worst.food.aversion.ever. I love mexican. It's all I wanted, breakfast/lunch/dinner while pregnant with Ryder and now I can't stand it. What am I supposed to eat now? Tough life I have. My biggest worry is food.

As for foods I've been craving lately:
Pickles, typical.
Jack in the Box chicken fingers with ranch/franks red hot. (there may or may not be an embarrassing story about how I ordered, paid then had them refund my money after telling me they were out of Franks and going to another Jack in the Box.. But I won't tell you about that.)
Sub sandwiches
Cry baby bubble gum
Mashed potatoes
& Braums orange sherbet

I say, and hopefully I will follow through with a weekly baby blog update so I'm not blowing up every one's News Feed with baby and pregnancy mumbo-jumbo, but I'm not promising anything. I'm really excited, it will show and I may very well get annoying, I apologize in advanced. :)

Love y'all.

PANcakes. Duh.

These deserved their own blog post. I feel guilty depriving the world of the deliciousness I experienced this morning.

I decided to make pancakes, which happens often, but not usually when it's just Ryder and I. I ALWAYS use an electric griddle and swore by it... Until today.

Simply because, I'm lazy and didn't want to get it down, and have to clean it for a few pancakes. So.. I just used the smallest fry pan I have.

I filled the pan to right before the edge starts to round-up, one at a time and cooked them on med. heat.

Here's what I did:
Made the desired amount of bisquick. BUT add the 'melt in your mouth pancake' ingredients. {written in small letters under the 'original recipe'} there's two options: fresh lemon juice, sugar, baking powder. OR sugar, baking powder and vanilla. I did all of the above. Why can't I have vanilla AND lemon?!

While I was making up the cakes, I sliced some strawberries thin, added a handful of raspberries mixed with some sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, mixed them together and put in the fridge to get happy for a while.

Once they were done, I buttered those bad boys up, and poured over the, now syrupy berries.

For some reason, cooking the pancakes in the pan, made them so tall and fluffy. I don't know if it was because I was only focusing on one pancake at a time; and babying it to adulthood, and not a whole griddle full, or if today was just my lucky day... But it was heaven in my mouth. You HAVE to try them. Ready-Set-GO!

"No obstacle too great"

Lots of changes coming for the Willards in 2012. Most recently: trying to become homeowners. Exciting right? Not entirely.

Before we moved to Texas, we were pre-approved, had an offer in on the best house we found in our price range and were patiently waiting (5 months later) on the Short Sale to go through. Then, Tyler got laid off. We had to pull our offer, and all of the stress, happiness, relief emotions kicked in. We were forced to move to TX where it was hard to go back to renting when we were SO close to owning.

Anyway, we signed a 6 month lease, knowing {if} we still liked Texas, if Tyler still liked his job, and if I wasn't still a complete wreck, we'd try to buy again when our lease was up.

Those 6 months flew by. What an adventure it's been! And now we're here, rushing to buy/get in a house to avoid another lease signing.

Tyler was home last week and we were able to go look at some possibilities on his very last day off. Someone beat us to the punch on what we thought was 'the one'. We looked at one more right before Tyler had to leave and fell in love.

It's beautiful, the model home, brand new, and everything I would ever want in a home, including having the option to buy the lot next door to avoid a cookie cutter sized yard.

It seems like everyday is different, one day things go great, the next EVERYTHING goes wrong. Days that make you wonder if you're doing the right thing for your family, financially,
etc.

Tonight it hit me.
I'm stuck in Texas if we buy a house. Can we do this? Do I want to be stuck here? Is this even the right house? Sometimes I want to go home so bad, is it right to raise my family here, away from all other family? Is that fair?

I found a quote that helped me tremendously. It certainly didn't give me all of my answers, but it's helping me get to that point.

"There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult, if we have faith."
Gordon B. Hinckley

Simply said, have faith. Faith in what we're doing for our marriage, our family and our future. But most importantly, faith in the Lord.

I love night night time.

Ryder's love for books continues:
A few weeks ago, he threw his fat chicken leg over my stomach and sat down on my lap, leaned back, with book in hand. When we were done reading "Wheels on the Go" {for the 36384947 time} he started chewing on the corners.. Which lead to:
"we don't eat books, we eat babies"
I love this little nugget.
Ps. He just brought me a book to read, shocker!