Baby #2: The First Ten Weeks!

This seemed like a fitting time to announce that we're expecting our second baby because a.) today is our first anniversary, and b.) I announced it with Ava right around this same point and started blogging!

In response to the questions I've gotten so far, I feel AWFUL. Simply wretched. With A, I had an easy-peasy pregnancy that I complained about just the same, but oh my Lord, I was not prepared for this when we decided it was time to add to the family. I am sick all day, all night, frequently waking up in the middle of the night sick. Everything puts me off, every smell makes me nauseated - I basically feel like I have the flu constantly. I was most worried about the exhaustion, given the hours I work and the amount of children I watch, but the exhaustion has nothing thus far on the nausea. Prescription Zofran, B6, ginger - you name it, we tried it. Nothing helped. Zofran didn't even touch the nausea, and gave me horrible headaches. The only thing that worked at all was unisom at night, since the active ingredient interferes with your body's reaction to nausea, but the fatigue was made much worse. Despite that, I'd take fatigue over all day sickness anytime!!!! Even the carpet powder I sometimes vacuum makes me sick (learned that one the hard way). The only thing I can consistently have is Pineapple-Orange-Banana juice. Hoping the citrus-y cravings mean it's another girl - I had the same love of that juice while pregnant with Ava, despite my general lack of sickness.

As for our due date, we're due 10/30 - another holiday baby - but since I'll have a repeat cesarean (VBACs are great for those interested in pursuing them, just don't count me amongst them...), he/she will likely be born 10/23. Whew. Once we hit the 37 week mark (in a long, lonnnnngggg time), it's the sooner, the better for me.

Ava is SO excited! David advised me we should keep it a secret for a while, but then he went to work the morning we found out, and I blabbed the second the door closed. I'm AWFUL at keeping my own secrets. How I've kept this from y'all for seven weeks is a mystery! Anyhow, I was just so excited that I had to tell her - and she's been talking about the baby ever since. She insists it is a baby sister (hopefully she has a sixth sense), and is already plotting to teach her to play tag and share her books with her. She's asked me about the baby weekly since we found out, and even sometimes shared that she feels nervous about having to share. We're trying to talk through her fears the best we can - having a sibling surely is a transition, but such a wonderful addition to the family and a friend for her for life, and we're focusing on those things and trying to prepare her to help.

Anyhow, we're so excited! Here's a couple comparison belly shots to document the big news:

The day we found out:

6 weeks:

9 weeks:

So far, not too much of a belly, though I feel gross and super bloated all the time. I feel like I've put on a trillion pounds, even though I've only put on one or two. Despite the all day sickness, I tend to snack on a lot of carbs to settle my stomach, so that is unfortunately keeping weight on :(

Even though this pregnancy has been challenging so far, we're so, so excited to be welcoming another baby into our hearts and family! Stay tuned for the big gender reveal May 17th - I can hardly wait!!! 

Happy (One Day Early Because I Can't Hold It In Another Second!) Anniversary to Us!

Photos courtesy the amazingly talented Wendy Gail Photography - more to come!

Happy (Good) Friday!

I LOVE Easter. It is, hands down, my absolute favorite holiday. As such, we've been livin' it up, hoppin' from one Easter egg hunt to another, with our final slated for Sunday after church. Here are some cute shots from the three we've been to so far:

This first one was at Springwoods Park - one of our favorite Austin area parks - with our meetup group.  Mommy forgot her Easter basket - oops! Thankfully, the plastic bag ban came in handy that day :)

Love these ladies and kiddos!

And then the Pemberton Heights Egg Hunt this morning:

She had the best strategy - she went the opposite direction of everyone else and made out like a bandit!

And, straight from there, off to our other meetup group's Easter party and egg hunt:

Hoppy Easter! 

What We Stand For.

On this historic day, one with the potential to literally change the world, I had a chat with my daughter about equality, marriage, and, ultimately, love. If you know me in real life, you'll know my SUV is equipped with the Equal Rights sticker. In fact, you don't have to know me in real life to know what I stand for. I am an advocate for equal rights in all forms, and a tried and true friend to the gays. Just ask Oil Cans and Rain, circa 2006 ;) 

Yesterday, a mere 24 hours prior to the Supreme Court convening to decide on the constitutionality of California's heinous Prop 8, we were putting groceries into the back of my car when Ava found herself face to face with our bumper sticker. 

"Mommy, what's that mean?" her curious mind wanted to know.

Now there are times when I am in a hurry. When I'm rushing to get from one place to the next to the next all before school pick-up and it's all I can do to focus on the task at hand. This, though, was not the time to be succinct. Sensing genuine interest from my child, and knowing her love for her many gay uncles, I stopped what I was doing, and explained to her what we stand for at our house, and what I hope she grows to stand for also.

"Well, honey, that's an equal sign. In this case, we have it on our car so that people around us know that we believe that everyone should have equal rights."

Genius child that she is, she followed up with, "What rights mean?"

I had to pause at that question. I clearly understand what rights are, but isn't that what this entire discussion is really all about? Rights, constitutionally, belong to everyone. Rights are unable to be taken away by a change in the law. Rights designate that you have an irrevocable ability to seek certain opportunities. Seeing as how I'm not sufficiently putting the importance of this concept into words, let me borrow a definition from Wikipedia:

"Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory.^[1] Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology."

Explaining that to a three-year-old isn't the easiest of jobs, so I tried to simplify it by example as much as possible.

"Rights mean that everyone, no matter their age, or the color of their skin, or who they love, is allowed to do the same thing. Right now, we're trying to show people that we think that it is ok for two people, no matter if they are both boys, or both girls, to get married. Do you think Uncle B should be able to get married?"

A most enthusiastic yes.

"Do you care if Uncle B marries a boy or a girl?"

Again, an enthusiastic no.

Well, I rest my case.

I know that the arguments are obviously more complex than all of that, but really, doesn't it boil down to love? Why do YOU care who someone else loves? How does the introduction of same-sex marriage affect you? It doesn't threaten my marriage. It doesn't weaken our vows. If anything, it adds merit to them and places us all on equal ground, creating a community that celebrates love and marriage in any form. 

No matter what side of the fence you stand on biblically, if you set your religious beliefs aside, per the separation of church and state, what honest reason can you give for the prohibition of same-sex marriage?

NASA Space Day at the Capitol!

We recently had the opportunity to spend a beautiful summer spring morning at our lovely Capitol, enjoying exploring NASA's space program and some of our local engineering and aeronautical organizations. The event was meant for school-aged children as a field trip, but was open to the public and seemed like a great way to spend a day! Ava may not be school-aged, but she was shockingly interested and involved in the hands-on activities, and that's something I certainly want to encourage!

 One of my personal favorite things was the chance to take a picture behind one of their spacesuits - so cool! Even mama got in on the action:

 

After that, we came across a NASA trailer with an actual moon rock we could touch, as well as some of their gear and freeze-dried food. The nice ladies working the booth were also handing out kids' activity books, which were a huge hit!

Our local children's museum also had a booth where you could use wooden planks, as well as paper cups and ping pong balls, to make asteroid launchers and launch them at "planets". Ava was super into it. Maybe a future engineer in our household?

Next up, we explored a textile bucket using rubber gloves to simulate how difficult it is for them in their spacesuits to manipulate objects. Shockingly, she was great at that also! 

We also made Asteroid Landers with GirlStart:

Since we were there anyhow, we decided to go in and take a look around, and were treated to a bunch of choral singers in the rotunda:

Happy Space Day, everyone!

Phone Dump Friday.

I've been an absentee blogger lately, mainly due to work and personal scheduling chaos, but I've still been snapping away on a regular basis, trying to document A's childhood for both of our sakes. Here's some of my recent favorites:

Wordless Wednesday: Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Lookie what we learned how to do: