Chicken Spaghetti

I tried a new Chicken Spaghetti recipe that I found here. I thought it was relatively healthy (except for all the cheese) and yummy. I used whole wheat spaghetti and followed the suggestion of throwing in some veggies. I finely diced a zucchini and sauteed it with the onion and bell pepper so it would not be easily detected by veggie-averse toddlers. I forgot to add in cayenne pepper which I should have because I thought it could use a little more spice/flavor. Still good though, and Cambry liked it. Win! In other veggie news, Cambry ate 4-5 lima beans at lunch yesterday! Let's celebrate the small victories :)

(Sorry these photos do not look that appetizing but what is a blog post without pictures, right?)

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 20 Weeks

Whoa, halfway through the pregnancy! I feel like my belly is a lot bigger and higher this week.

How Far Along:  20 Weeks

Baby's Size:  Banana

Maternity Clothes: Yep!

Movement: A good amount of movement. Nothing you can see from the outside yet, but lots of little wiggles.

Sleep: Great. At least one bathroom trip a night though.

Symptoms: Still kind of nauseous sometimes but overall pretty good. I never really feel 100% normal though. With Cambry I think once the nausea went away I felt pretty much like my normal self. With this pregnancy I seem to feel tired and lightheaded a lot of the time.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Nothing specific lately.

Best Moment this Week: Finding out the gender and seeing her on the ultrasound!! It is so fun to finally know. Also, having a 3 day weekend which meant time spent with family and having Greg home for 3 1/2 days! (He came home early on Friday)

What I miss: Having energy. I still need a nap almost every day.

What I am Looking Forward to: Having another little girl :) I bought this today. I am such a sucker for headbands and bows.

Also, working on the nursery. We need to clear out the furniture first, so it could be a while before any real progress is made.

Nursery Plans

I love getting to decorate a nursery. Especially a little girl's nursery. The walls are currently painted a very pale blue. I really don't want to repaint them. So I found a picture on Pinterest of the cutest little girl's room with light blue walls and different shades of pink. This is my inspiration for the room.

Now, my nursery will look nothing like this because this room definitely looks like a professional designer did it and it looks like a lot of money was put into it. But at least it gives me some ideas. Here is the room currently with the light blue walls. 

I found a few fabrics I like so far. I think I am going to go with different shades of pink and coral and some gray. I love mixing different prints.

The first 3 I have the actual samples of, but the 3rd one I found online. It is pretty expensive so I am trying to find something similar but less expensive.

I also ordered this stencil from PBK and I plan to do one wall with this.

I am not sure yet what will go on the walls, but the little details can wait. For now I need to figure out all the fabrics and have the bedding made. I will post progress updates along the way.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

We have had a fun and relaxing weekend. Greg's parents visited a couple of days and Cambry loved all the attention. We went to Discovery Green Park downtown on Saturday and let Cambry play on the playground and the splash pad. Then we ate lunch at the little cafe there and had some good burgers.

We ran a few errands later that day and went to look at fabrics for the crib bedding. I am so excited about the nursery. I will have to do another post on that later. Greg smoked a brisket and we just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day.

We all went to church on Sunday and Cambry dressed patriotically in her new dress from Nana.

Today we have just been running a few errands and spending some time outside. Cambry wants to be outside all the time even though it is getting so hot already. She was wearing another red white and blue outfit so I took some pictures. She wore this same dress last year for 4th of July. I can't believe the difference. I hardly recognize that little baby a year ago. Makes me look forward to having one that little again.

Baby Mattern #2 is a...

GIRL!!!

We are so excited! I can't believe we are going to have another precious girl! Doesn't Cambry look thrilled? Ha!

Greg's parents are here this weekend and my parents came over tonight for dinner too so we had them bite into cake balls to reveal the gender. So fun to see their reactions. Everyone is very excited of course.

I was secretly hoping for another little girl. I love little girls (obviously), love dressing them up, doing crafty things for them, and look forward to painting nails (oops, already painted Cambry's toe nails!), doing hair, and a million other girly things. I would love a little boy too and I especially would love for Greg to have a son. The mother daughter bond is so special so I would love for Greg to have that father son bond. Maybe the next one will be a boy :) Assuming we still want 3 after having 2...

I am so thankful to God that everything looked great on the ultrasound and we were able to tell the gender right away. The ultrasound Tech said she was sure - no doubt - that it was a girl. I am so happy for Cambry to have a sister. I am picturing them in cute matching outfits :) I am so curious to know if she will look like Cambry or not. But what are the chances of 2 brown eyed parents having another blue eyed girl? I am thinking this baby will probably have brown eyes, but we'll see.

She was adorable and wiggly on the ultrasound. It just makes it so much more real seeing how big she is and knowing she is a SHE. I am excited to start planning the nursery. Oh and names. Names are so hard but hopefully we can start brainstorming one we both really like.

Yay for another girl!

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 19 Weeks

How Far Along: 19 Weeks

Baby's Size:  Large heirloom tomato (what is that?) or a mango. Lets go with mango.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, mostly maternity clothes, or stretchy shirts

Movement: I feel the baby move throughout the day which I love. I can tell he/she is getting bigger and stronger.

Sleep: Great. At least one bathroom trip a night though.

Symptoms: Still kind of nauseous sometimes but overall pretty good.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Can't really think of anything specific this week. I got a cold on Sunday so food was sounding gross there for a couple days but now things seem back to normal.

Best Moment this Week: Found the double stroller I wanted on craigslist for a great price. It is the same one I have now except the double version. So excited! Cambry tried it out and liked it.

What I miss: Having energy. I still need a nap almost every day.

What I am Looking Forward to: Finding out the gender tomorrow!! Although I sometimes get a little worried we will not be able to find out. With Cambry they almost couldn't tell. I had to drink a glass of water, eat a granola bar, do squats, then drink a Dr. Pepper to get her to move into a good position for them to finally see her girl parts.

Boy or Girl?

I put up a voting button just for fun on guessing the gender. I am so excited to find out!! Four more days! Just for grins, here are a few of the old wives tales below that will maybe help you guess.

- It seems like people say that worse nausea means girl. I have been pretty nauseous this pregnancy and it has been pretty much the exact same as my pregnancy with Cambry. A random lady at the grocery store asked me if I had been feeling nauseous. She said, oh you are having another girl. With boys its like you don't even know you are pregnant. Haha, just makes me think of that show I Didn't Know I was Pregnant. Lady, do you know how big my stomach gets during pregnancy? Pretty sure that will always be a dead giveaway for me.

- They say a higher heart rate means girl and a lower heart rate means boy. I have read that this is completely not true and has no correlation, but again, these are just for fun.
8 weeks - 166 bpm
12 weeks - 172 bpm
16 weeks - 154 bpm

- According to the chinese gender prediction chart (on BabyCenter) I am having a girl. However they have a voting poll where people say if the calendar was correct or incorrect for them. More people said it was incorrect than correct, ha! So maybe that means its a boy. I looked it up for Cambry and it did say girl for her.

- They say if you are carrying high it's a girl, and low it's a boy. This past weekend a lady at a restaurant told me she thoughts I was having a boy because I was carrying low.This one just makes no sense to me. Why would your body carry a baby differently depending on their itty bitty parts? Still, I had tons of people try to guess Cambry's gender by the way I was carrying. Probably half the people told me girl and half told me boy. I still don't really know if I carry low or high so I'll let you be the judge. Here are my 17 and 18 week pictures again.

- Sweet vs. Salty. They say if you crave sweets it's a girl and if you crave salty it's a boy. I crave salty more than sweet.

Once again, I don't have a gut feeling. I did have a dream a couple weeks ago that it was a boy. Even so, I am going to guess girl - only because the pregnancies have been so similar. However, my sister's pregnancies were different so we thought #2 would be a girl but it ended up being another boy. I guess you just never know! Greg's guess is boy. Can't wait to find out! The ultrasound is Thursday and we tell our parents Friday so hopefully I can post it Friday night or Saturday.

Cambry 17 Months

Baby girl is 17 months old today! That is so close to 18 months which seems so old and such a milestone. But goodness she is so much fun. And so so cute. I was dying over the cuteness of these pigtails. Oh how I love love love having a little girl.

Skills: Her new words this month include: backpack (bapa), outside (side), Pa, Gigi, Nana, night night (ni ni), bat, and snack. There may be more but that is all I can think of now. She will also imitate some animal sounds.

Likes: There are of course the usual suspects - baby dolls, her blanket, and shoes. She pretty much carries her baby and blanket around the house all day. It is pretty cute. She even had her baby doll give me kisses tonight on each cheek. She loves giving kisses. She also loves Daddy. When she sees something of his during the day she will point and say Dada. In the evening when it is getting close to the time he comes home from work she will see cars go by outside and say Dada. As soon as she hears the garage door she says Dada Dada Dada. She also loves for us to "get her". In the evening after bath she is super wild and silly and just wants to be chased and tickle-attacked. As soon as we stop she starts furiously signing "more". She loves the "more" sign. She also loves to go through my make up bag. That is how pigtails are possible :)

Struggles: Vegetables! We had sort of taken a break from the veggie wars since last time I posted. We had quiche a couple of nights (which she LOVES) which has onions, mushrooms, and spinach. Then we had something else that had a bit of veggies in it that she ate. She still won't touch a plain veggie. Also sometimes food in general is a struggle. Like tonight, she would not touch the chicken. It was chicken soft taco meat made in the crockpot. Super soft and flavorful. With melted cheese on top. She ate it last night and liked it. Swatted it away tonight. Only wanted blackberries. We gave her one blackberry but then told her she had to eat some chicken first before more blackberries. Ensue crying. Wouldn't eat at all. So we tried again an hour later after bath and after much coaxing she finally tried the chicken. She liked it and ate it all. We didn't even attempt veggies because that was already difficult enough.

Schedule: She is down to 1 nap. She started this a few weeks ago. She still gets very tired in the morning but will just not go down for a morning nap. However, if we go anywhere in the morning, she will fall asleep in the car for a little cat nap. She usually takes her 1 nap around 1pm. Sometimes she only sleeps an hour, sometimes 2. She goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up around 6:30. Tonight she didn't want us to read her a story or sing a song, she just kept saying ni ni and pointing to her crib. Ok, you got it! Night night! She eats her 3 meals a day and an afternoon snack. She drinks milk 3 times a day too (separately from meals though).

She still has 12 teeth but 2 more top ones have started poking through and I think the bottom 2 might be close behind. She wears size 4 diaper mostly, and between a 4 and a 5 shoe. Her clothes are 12-18 or 18-24.

We love our Cambry Paige!

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 18 Weeks

How Far Along: 18 Weeks

Baby's Size:  Bell Pepper

Maternity Clothes: Yes, mostly maternity clothes, or stretchy shirts

Movement: I feel the baby move every day now and I love it! I don't feel it much during the day though because I really have to be still and paying attention to notice it - they are still very small movements. Greg was able to feel it move the other night though which was exciting.

Sleep: Great. At least one bathroom trip a night though.

Symptoms: Praise God the nausea is getting much better! I still get a bit nauseous toward the end of the day but it is so much better. Yay!

Food Aversions/Cravings: I think I am pretty much eating my normal foods. I have randomly been wanting grapefruit though lately. And spinach salads.

Best Moment this Week: Spending time with family this weekend.

What I miss: Having energy! By the afternoon I feel so tired. Today after lunch we were driving home from Lindsay's house and Cambry fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got home. She did not transfer in. So that was her afternoon nap. I was dying for a nap but it just wasn't possible.

What I am Looking Forward to: Finding out the gender in a little over a week! So so excited! We find out on a Thursday and Greg's parents are coming that weekend so we may tell his parents and my parents together in a fun way that weekend. So I am not sure when I will post the gender - but hopefully sometime that weekend. Did I mention I am a bit excited?? I feel like once we know the gender we can really start to work on stuff. Most of it when can already do now but for some reason I just feel hindered until I know.

Shaggy

My friend Joan asked me if I have ever posted a picture of Cambry without a bow in her hair -haha. Bow-less pictures are probably few and far between. I have pretty much put a bow in her hair ever since the day she was born. She could be my only girl so I have to enjoy it! Anyway, to remember what she looks like with no hair accessories, here is my girl in the morning. Her hair hangs straight in her face. And she never moves it. It is so funny. Sometimes I don't even see how she can see anything but she will just walk around with it completely in her eyes like it doesn't even bother her. Cutie pie!

Graduation and Mothers Day

We went to Dallas this weekend to see my brother-in-law graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary. We are so proud of him and that huge accomplishment. It was a fun weekend hanging out with family. They had party at their house after the ceremony with friends, family, and lots of yummy food. Cambry had a blast playing with her cousins.

We got back to Houston on Sunday afternoon. We took Cambry to a splash pad by our house. She didn't seem to enjoy it like she did the other day. Maybe the water was too cold for her.

Here is a picture of me and my girl. I am so thankful for this sweet little one. I am blessed to be her mother. I can't imagine life without her - she brings so much joy. Being a mother is the very best thing in the world! I am also thankful for my own mother who is an amazing mom. It was fun spending time with my parents this weekend. And I feel so fortunate to have such an amazing mother in law. I didn't get to see them this weekend but Greg's parents are coming to see us soon and we are looking forward to it.

We didn't have any big dinner plans since we were tired from being out of town this weekend, but I requested a salad for dinner so Greg made some really good chicken for the salads. It reminded me how we used to do Super Salad nights before we had Cambry, and I think they were on Sundays. I have been majorly craving spinach salads lately. Tonight was spinach topped with chicken, black beans, tomato, avocado, and tortilla chips.

Then after dinner I went and got a snow cone. There is the best little stand right by our house. I got half cake batter and half cookie dough! I had never tried those flavors, but I thought they were really good. I usually get fruity flavors like watermelon and banana. That probably sounds so gross but I love banana snow cones. I am not sure what made me try it in the first place because it even sounds gross to me, but I have liked them ever since I was a kid.

Well that pretty much wraps up our weekend. Still counting down the days until we find out the gender. 11 more to go!

Zoo Day

We had a fun day today. We met Diamend and Grayson at the zoo. It is funny how at this stage of life one activity can take up the whole day. Like, what did you do today? Oh I went to the zoo. People without kids may be thinking well ok what did you do the other 8 hours during the day? But things like this can pretty much take up most of the day.

It basically took all morning just to pack for the zoo. Snacks and water (for her and me), diapers, extra clothes, sunblock, etc. They have a splash pad so add in a towel, swimsuit, swim diaper, etc. Anyway, looks like I am going on a cross country road trip. I probably could have gathered all this pretty quickly if I could have focused better. But in between packing I was getting her ready, getting me ready, making breakfast smoothies, doing laundry, and continually adjusting Cambry's shoes since she insisted on wearing a pair of shoes around the house that were way too big for her.

We had fun walking all around and looking at the animals. We went in the petting zoo to see the goats.

After grabbing lunch we tried out the carousel. Cambry was very excited until it actually started moving. Then she clung to me for dear life. 

Grayson liked it!

We hit up the splash pad before we left. This was Cambry's first time at a splash pad. She loved it! She would run up to the fountains with her mouth wide open trying to drink the water. Funny girl.

This looks like a snack vending machine but it was a mommy vending machine! I had never seen one. It had diapers, wipes, pacis, nursing cover, tide pens, hand sanitizer, you name it.

Cambry crashed on the way home but then woke up when I tried to transfer her in. So she is in her crib fussing. Hopefully she falls asleep soon!