Bonus Belly Pic

Last week when we were trying to get the lighting right for my belly pic, I had Greg fill in for me while I messed with some of the camera settings. This is the pose I got.

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 12 Weeks

I feel like hitting 12 weeks is a huge milestone! I know it's not quite in the second trimester but it is close. And hopefully means I am getting closer to getting past this nausea. I feel like I have been pregnant forever, which is good and bad. Bad because I feel like I have been sick so long. But good because besides the sickness I really do enjoy being pregnant and don't want it to just fly by. Also by the time I'm due my first baby will be almost 2 and I do not want her growing up too fast!

How far along: 12 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Lime 

Maternity Clothes: Belly band sometimes, a couple maternity shirts although not really necessary yet. I just bought a really cute maternity maxi dress from Target that I am excited about.

Movement: None yet

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

Symptoms: Nauseous throughout the day and extremely nauseous at night, tired, easily lightheaded

Food Aversions/Cravings: Cheesy things, milk and cereal, other generally unhealthy foods

Best Moment this Week: Easter Weekend - the beautiful weather and spending time with family

What I Miss: Feeling good and being able to be productive around the house

What I am Looking Forward to: My appointment tomorrow! Also, hoping that this nausea starts to go away soon.

Overall, not much change from last week!

Delicious Not Nutritious

Things on my grocery list this week:

Doritos
Pickles
Mac & Cheese
Waffles

Those are just a few of the unhealthy things I have been eating lately. Every time I go to the grocery store I am embarrassed at the checkout because of all the junk I am buying. I usually try to eat fairly healthy but with this nausea all bets are off. As soon as I feel better I really need to start eating better.

I had been writing this post in my head the other morning, then it just so happened that at the grocery store yesterday I get this comment as I am loading chips into my cart:

Random man: "It's too expensive to eat healthy nowadays (chuckle)!"

What?? Who says that! I mean, listen buddy...I am pregnant. At any and every moment I feel like I could throw up. So yeah, my taste buds have gone a little crazy.

Grosse Family Vaca 2013: Cayman Islands Edition

The other week we were blessed to get to go on the most amazing family vacation to the Cayman Islands! We had such a wonderful time. The beach there is absolutely beautiful. Crystal clear blue water and white sand. Perfectly warm weather the whole time. I couldn't have asked for more.

The kids had a blast. Kyler looked so adorable the whole time. He is such a cool kid. I don't think his hat or backpack came off the whole time. He would walk around and hold Cambry's hand - so cute.

We stayed at a resort right on the beach. Each morning after breakfast we would all change into our swimsuits and walk right out to the beach. 

Cambry was all about roaming around the whole time. Greg was the best and would let her roam and follow her everywhere while I relaxed. She was loving the new environment. Every time we would leave our hotel room she would take off roaming the halls. She was such an explorer.

Pretty much every day all day was spent at the beach. Is anything better?? Plus it is kind of hard to go off and do excursions with the kids. Ashley was able to do some fun stuff though like swim with dolphins and rent a paddle board. She even went to cross fit one day!

The kids loved playing in the sand, and we loved relaxing and getting in the water.

Probably the best thing about the vacation was that the hotel provided pack-n-plays on the beach! Whoever thought of that is a parent for sure and a genius! 

When you choose a place to sit they bring you umbrellas and then they asked if we wanted play pens for the babies. Um, YES PLEASE! 

So instead of being stuck in the hotel room during nap time, we had fun on the beach while the babies napped. The ocean is the perfect sound machine.

Hayes slept in his pack-n-play too. They did so good. My parents watched Cambry while she slept and Greg and I would go off and snorkel. There were really cool fish just right out in front of the hotel. It was so cool to swim through all the schools of fish and be close enough to touch. We also rented kayaks one day and paddled up and down the beach.

We ate out for all our meals which was nice because it meant no one had to cook! We would either eat in the hotel, or walk across the street to a nearby restaurant. A couple of times we took a cab to a restaurant that was a little further away. It was a lot of eating out for the kids (breakfast lunch and dinner), so sometimes they got a little fussy/impatient/bored, but overall they did good.

Here is my 10 week belly shot that we took there. Looking big for only being 10 weeks along! Let me tell you how awesome I looked in a swimsuit - ha! The bump is not big enough for people to assume I am pregnant but definitely looks like I ate a few too many donuts or something.

 Overall during the day I felt pretty good. I think God was just so gracious and gave me a little relief while I was there so I could really enjoy the vacation. I am so so thankful for that. Since returning home the nausea is back in full force but I am grateful that it seemed to be a bit lighter there.

 In the evenings we would put the kids to sleep and then stay up a bit talking with the Kimmels. There was a little veranda area just steps away from our rooms so we would just watch the video monitor while we hung out. Then we would sneak back into the rooms for bed. Of course we bought milk and cereal to have on hand because who can go to bed pregnant without having a bowl of cereal first? Not me.

So thankful to my parents for planning this wonderful vacation! We had the best time!

Easter Weekend

Christ is Risen!

We have had a great Easter weekend. Saturday we hung out with little D and took him to a park. Greg and he fished some while Cambry played on the playground. Unfortunately they did not catch any fish.

Then we played a little game with him using eggs. I had made a set of resurrection eggs using this website with printable verses. We first hid the eggs for him to find. Then to make it a little more fun for him since he is older we said he could get a dollar for each egg that he correctly guessed what the object represented before looking at the verse. He got 7 right!

Sunday morning we went to church. It was a nice service and the worship songs were great. We went to the early 8am service which was probably the least crowded. Then we came home and relaxed a little. The weather was beautiful today. We sat outside a bit and then had the windows open throughout the day. We watched the storm roll in late afternoon which was fun to watch.

My parents came over around lunch time and brought brisket, potatoes, beans, salad, and cake. It was so nice of them to bring it so I didn't have to do anything and my mom did all the cleaning too!

Cambry got a few little things in her Easter basket.

We didn't do an egg hunt for Cambry, but she has done a few recently. Although she doesn't quite get it, she will pick up a couple eggs for a minute before becoming disinterested. Earlier this week we played with eggs in the front yard and she got a few.

Also, we had our small group Easter social this week and had a little egg hunt for the kids. I didn't go since I still feel so nauseous at night, but Greg took Cambry. It looks like the kids had fun. I filled Cambry's eggs with some healthy fruit snacks, graham crackers, and raisins. Although I don't think she noticed or cared, ha!

Happy Easter!

Baby #2 Bumpdate: 11 Weeks

How far along: 11 Weeks

Baby’s Size: Fig 

Maternity Clothes: Belly band sometimes, a couple maternity shirts although not really necessary yet

Movement: None yet

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

Symptoms: Nauseous throughout the day and extremely nauseous at night, tired.

Food Aversions/Cravings: Cheesy things sound the best - goldfish, mac&cheese, pizza, cheesy casseroles, etc. Also drinking tons of milk. I was crazy for milk last time I was pregnant too. I eat cereal at least 2 times a day and put in tons of milk. Then sometimes I will just have a glass of chocolate milk. Smoothies sound good too. Somehow at the same time food grosses me out. I can hardly think what to have for dinner because everything sounds so terrible.

Best Moment this Week: Being in the Cayman Islands with family!

What I Miss: Feeling good and being able to be productive around the house 

What I am Looking Forward to: My next appointment and hearing the heartbeat again!

The Shirt

Greg had just left for Prague for a week. It was super early but I was dying to know if I was pregnant. I took a test the day after he left and thought I saw the faintest faintest line. You really can't tell in the picture...unless you zoom in and squint ;)

My heart was racing and I starting getting really excited. I started googling like mad if a super-faint-barely-there line was a positive. Most agreed yes. The next day I took another test. It was a teeny tiny bit darker.

I was still not entirely convinced so I bought a digital test. Pregnant! I was bursting with joy. I was dying to tell Greg but I wanted to do it in a fun way and not just over the phone. So I turned to my trusty friend, Etsy, and ordered the cutest big sis shirt. It was on sale, the right size (wanted it a little big so she can proudly wear it to the hospital), and the seller would ship next day priority mail. How perfect was that?

When I picked Greg up from the airport Cambry was wearing her shirt. I knew he wouldn't see it in the car because her harness covered it and it was dark out. When we got home Cambry was walking all around and I was waiting for Greg to notice. He did not see it! Finally when they were playing on the bed I held Cambry up in front of him for a clear view. Suddenly his eyes got huge and he started saying what?? What?? He got so excited. It was the best reaction and totally worth the wait!