Meet Gertrude

Isabella LOVES her babies, that's for sure! She was so excited when I told her that her baby "Gertrude" could now be her outside baby. Gertrude comes everywhere with her when we are outside. As you can see, Gertrude loves to be a passenger in the Jeep . . .

Gertrude loves going down the slide . . .

And she loves to swing . . .

But I think Gertrude's favorite thing is being pushed around in the stroller for her daily walk around the block!

22 Weeks

Isabella cracks me up in this picture, I didn't even know she was there. She's apparently showing off her belly too! I feel like I've blimped up . . . everywhere . . . lately, bleh . . .

Isabella wanted her picture taken with Daddy, too.

Workin' Hard

I'm not sure what it is - second trimester bliss, nesting, or just in the mood for spring cleaning, but I'm sure that I have never felt this energetic in my life!! Despite having intense pelvic pain again this pregnancy, and feeling like my tailbone is about ready to fall off, I am getting tons accomplished. So far this week I have cleaned out the car, cleaned the garage, including organizing the outside toys, cleaned out all my laundry room cabinets (which is one whole wall), cleaned out most of the kitchen drawers and cabinets, cleaned out my closet, dresser, and even the dreaded, dusty under the bed area, washed, ironed, and hung back up some of my curtains, and I will not stop until I've cleaned out every closet/ cupboard / drawer in this house! So far I have thrown away about 6 garbage bags of junk, and sacked up 3 big bags of stuff to donate to our church rummage sale in June. I feel like I need to make more room before the baby comes, and I'm hoping, in my haste, I didn't get rid of too many of my clothes just because they don't fit me right now! I got rid of a huge black garbage bag of clothes! In addition to that I'm finding myself doing things that I normally do once a week, like scrubbing the floors, about every other day. I just can't get my floors clean enough, people!! I can't even stand having dirty clothes in the hamper right now, and am finding myself washing one shirt at a time as soon as I take it off, what a waste, somebody stop me!! This is so not me, usually I seem to let the laundry pile up, or think the floors can go just one more day (or two, or three) before being scrubbed. Anyway, I better get back to work, the hallway closet is next, as well as washing windows outside. And I'll leave you with a few pictures. I'm not the only one tidying up around here, Isabella has been "helping" me clean inside, as well as helping Daddy get the yard in tip top shape.

They got a few things planted in the garden.

Resting on the porch afterward.

Halfway there!

I'm 20 weeks, which is the official halfway point. Though, as I said earlier, I will be SHOCKED if I go the full 40 weeks! I'm praying to make it to 36. They took detailed measurements of my cervix, and it is within the normal range for right now, *whew*! At my next two appointments they will be doing the fetal fibronectin test to determine my chances of going into pre-term labor. We got to see the baby in action on the ultrasound, he or she was very busy swallowing amniotic fluid, that was neat to see. The ultrasound tech said only about 1 in 10 get to see that. Also, when Isabella was a baby, and also during her ultrasounds, she ALWAYS had at least one of her hands touching her face (usually covering her eye), it appears this baby has the same tendancy. :)

Easter

We had a very nice Easter weekend at Monte's parents. Just one of Monte's sisters was there, but Isabella still had a blast with her two cousins that were there.

Isabella in her pretty Easter dress, with the purse great-grandma bought for her.

Family picture. Me at 19 weeks. I had a neighbor tell me recently that I looked big for how far along I am. Of course that sent me into a hormonal crying fit later. I probably shouldn't let it bother me, but it REALLY does. Maybe I am a little on the big side, but I don't think I'm HUGE, this is one of the first maternity shirts I've worn.

Easter egg hunt.








Blowing bubbles with cousins.

Last Week

We kept very busy last week, here's a few things that kept us occupied during the week, or should I say, kept Isabella occupied . . .

She worked out with Yourself Fitness for Playstation, which is Mommy and Daddy's, but she wanted in on the action. :)

The weather was GORGEOUS, we spent most of the week playing outside, and she got to get her Jeep out for the first time this year!

She went down her slide about 9,000 times.

She spent A LOT of time swinging! Although, at first she was not too thrilled that we didn't put her baby/toddler swing back up for her.

She helped make cut out Easter cookies. This is the first time I let her frost and decorate, and she loved it!! By the way, this is the best cut out sugar cookie recipe EVER!

Can you spot which ones she frosted?? :)

She mastered riding her trike recently. Last summer she couldn't reach the pedals, now look at her! I wish I had a before picture of the trike. I bought it at a garage sale for one dollar last year, it was in terrible condition. I repainted the whole thing in the original colors, and it turned out great.

She had a blast coloring Easter eggs, and it didn't even get messy, like I anticipated!

This and That

I thought I should write some sort of post, since it has been a while, and I decided this morning at Mass that I am giving up facebook and blogger during Holy Week. So it will be awhile before I'm back on here.

I can't wait for nice weather! We've had a few nice days here and there, but it's still been pretty cold and gloomy. A lot of our snow has melted, but we still have quite a bit of melting to do. If it warms up later today, Isabella might get to go out and play on her swing set for the first time this year! According to the forecast we might get into the 50's and even 60's this week, yay! We asked Isabella what the first thing she wants to do is when the weather gets really nice. She said, drive her Jeep, and plant the garden with Daddy, aww.

I'm feeling a million times better than I was for the first four months of pregnancy. I still have waves of nausea every once in awhile, but it's nothing compared to what it was. I haven't had a migraine in weeks, too!! I have quite a bit of lower back and pelvic pain, which I also had with Isabella, but I'll gladly deal with that over feeling like I have the stomach flu every day for months! I can even eat meat again, for the most part. It feels so good to be able to cook again, and know that my family is eating healthier once again. I can't believe I'm almost half way through with this pregnancy, and considering there's a very good chance this baby will be early (just hopefully not too early) I probably already am halfway through. I've still been having contractions off and on (more off than on, thank goodness), and I've noticed the only time I have a lot of them is after I've gone for a walk or have been on my feet most of the day. I'm hoping that's not a recipe for bedrest. :( We'll see what the next ultrasound shows in less than two weeks. And speaking of bedrest, since I know in the back of my mind, that it's a possibility, I feel like I've been nesting already, trying to get as much done around the house as I can, while I still can. Isabella and I met my mother-in-law for some shopping the other day, and we got her some much needed spring and summer clothes. So yesterday I went through all her clothes, and packed up all the 2T's from last summer to make way for her new 3T and 4T's. I apparently have a very disproportionate child, last summer she wore 2T tops with 12 or 18 month shorts and skirts. This summer she'll be in some 3T and some 4T tops with 24 month or 2T bottoms. That makes it impossible to buy anything that comes in a set. I've also been cleaning out cupboards, and am in the mood to get. rid. of things! That's probably because our house is pretty small, and I feel like we should get rid of some stuff in order to make room for baby.

As for an update to my last post, I'd say it's safe to say that Isabella is, um, totally "cleaned out"! Thank goodness! This is the first time in a VERY long time that it seems her digestive system is working normally, it's wonderful! I'm curious to see what her next set of X-Rays shows. And hopefully now that she knows they aren't going to hurt her, she'll be a little more receptive to having the X-Rays done.

Isabella accidentally clocked the elderly guy sitting behind us, with her palm this morning in church, needless to say, the palm was then confiscated.

I'm looking forward to everything going on at Church this week for Holy Week. Our plans for Easter are a little uncertain right now, it's our year to spend it with Monte's family. One of his sisters is due to have a baby any day now, so his parents aren't planning anything for Easter yet.

Father blessed the baby for the first time this morning, when I went up to communion, that brings a smile to my face. :)

Just as I had feared, I knew once I started feeling better, I would start eating like crazy. And I am. I feel like there's no stopping me. I'm now back up to my weight I started out the pregnancy at, but I have a feeling it's rapidly going up, *sigh*. I'm at a weird stage, I've been wearing maternity pants for, um, quite a while (yikes!), but most maternity tops look huge, while my regular shirts are getting too tight.

I hope you all have a blessed Holy Week and Easter!