"Lazy" August Days

For three years now in August we have gone out to Cary for a craft show/street festival called Lazy Days (we barely took a single picture that first year, except for this one I posted on my craft blog!). It has become a fun family tradition now because the highlight of the afternoon is getting lunch and a cupcake at the deli/bakery that made our wedding cake almost 6 years ago (wowza! 6 years?) called Blue Moon Bakery. I will always remember sitting in their cafe area with Mom tasting about 20 different cake/icing/ganache filling combinations, and then settling on plain old vanilla cake with vanilla icing because it was just so good. It is especially fun to have taken Kenna with us for her second year in a row. We even got to say hello to the owner and tell her that we got our wedding cake from them and are now bringing our almost-two-year old daughter to get cupcakes... and she remembered delivering our cake to us! (I guess our odd last name is fairly memorable).

Even though it is always incredibly hot in August, it was not too bad this year. There are several different places where there are "misting tents" set up to cool things off, which Kenna LOVED. She is a pretty big fan of anything involving water or water being sprayed at her. I had thought that she would enjoy the festival part of it a little more this year since she was old enough to enjoy all the little kid freebies and such... which she did, but the combination of hitting it right at nap time, the heat, and not being able to get out and walk very well was not a winner with Kenna.

She did however, enjoy spinning the wheel at the Chick Fil A booth and winning a cow pez candy dispenser which she adorably kept calling "moo" and also got a hat!
Last August our sweet little cupcake eater was a wee little 9 month old:
And this year she is a big 21 month old! (And ate the whole cupcake by herself):
Barely a crumb left:
Between the heat and all the fun things to look at, our little one conked out hard in the car on the way home. We thought she was so sweet, still clutching her juice and her two balloons:
It was hard to show self-restraint amongst all the lovely and interesting handmade things! The one thing we got was this adorable little apple dress for Kenna. It caught my eye and Matt agreed that it would be perfect for her. Since Nana can't be here anymore to make the beautiful handmade dresses she made for me when I was little, we thought this would be the next best thing. She wore it to church the next day, and we got a few pictures of her in it:
The back is my favorite! I love a little girl in a sundress- she just looks so breezy and comfortable and little-girly!
And since we didn't get a single one of all three of us at Lazy Days (which I really wish we had now that it has become a tradition!) here is one of Kenna and Daddy at church:

Fearfully and Wonderfully!

Last week we had a 12 week appointment where we unexpectedly got another glimpse of our little one through ultrasound. What an awesome thing for God to give man the ability to develop such a technology. As amazing as hearing that little heartbeat on the doppler is, nothing beats seeing your little one move around in "real time" and know that they are healthy, happy, and safe in his/her little bubble. What a blessing that I by no means take for granted.

The pictures were a little fuzzy since Baby is just now big enough to start showing up on a belly ultrasound versus an internal one. However, we did get to see little one wave at us very clearly! How incredibly amazing to see an 11 week old baby, still developing inside the womb and barely the size of a fig, wave so clearly. To make the same kind of motions that our almost-two-year old does... when I stop to think about the incredibleness of that, I just have to praise our amazing Creator. I mean, a fig is tiny little fruit.

It brings so much meaning to some very familiar verses, Psalm 139:13-16:

"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book before one came to be."

How unbelievable to know that the God of the universe, that created all the mysteries of how we work and who is the only one that can breathe life into us would care to know us at all. As much as I love Kenna and this second baby, both of whom are part of me and have lived inside of my body, knowing that my heavenly Father loves me infinitely more, and is in fact the very definition of perfect love, is pretty intensely incredible. And to know that he desires to know and be known by each one of his creation, as flawed and crazy as we are in our sin, makes that love that much more awesome.

Seeing such liveliness so early on the ultrasound, such a strong little heartbeat, makes me wonder how anyone can doubt that life begins at conception. I remember hearing an interview on the radio with a planned parenthood director who had left her job after watching abortion on an ultrasound. She had always been told that the fetus was not a life, couldn't feel anything, and that it didn't hurt them. She watched as the tiny person reacted in obvious pain to the procedure and she had a "change of heart." I read since then that she was one of 8 abortion industry workers that left their jobs around the same time period, and that one clinic in Montana closed due to "decline in business."

We are coming up on 13 weeks this Friday and headed out of the 1st trimester. Praise the Lord for a healthy baby!

Wordless Wednesday: Bejeweled

11 weeks

Today I'm exactly 11 weeks pregnant. I've seen these little surveys on several people's blog, and I thought it would a good way to remember all the little fun details as we go. Being a second child myself, one of my big priorities for this pregnancy is to relish in an record as many little details as possible... not letting everything slip right by because I'm so busy and tired with a very active toddler. Matt surprised me with a second copy of the same little "belly book" I used with Kenna, which I loved for how fun & detailed it is. I really like the symmetry of having the same book for both pregnancies- I love looking back and comparing and seeing how many things there are that you notice right away with the second since you have a little better idea what to expect after having the first (ie: knowing what you're feeling when the baby first starts to move). Hopefully you're like me and like to hear the nitty gritty of other people's pregnancies... if not, we'll try not to get too baby-centric around here!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 11 weeks

Size of baby: the size of a fig- last week we called he/she "Baby Kumquat" and this week we've graduated to "Baby Fig!"
Total Weight Gain/Loss: no weight gain yet
Maternity Clothes: regular clothes, but going for my more flowy shirts
Gender: can't wait to find out!
Movement: none so far
What I miss: feta cheese
Sleep: lots of crazy dreams (I told Matt I should write them down & sell them as movie plots! They are that weird & crazy) & lots of getting up to pee already

Symptoms: tiredness is starting to wear off just a little!
Cravings: just hungry all the time

Best Moment this week: starting to move Kenna's stuff around to her big girl room- her room will stay the "nursery" for #2

What I am looking forward to: knowing boy/girl so we can start planning!

So Excited!

Our family is super happy to say that we are expecting our second baby! It feels crazy to even write that... I can't believe Kenna is already big enough to be becoming a big sister and we're about to do the newborn thing all over again!
We went to the OB last week, and everything is looking great! Our official due date is March 4th and we're looking forward to finding out the gender as soon as possible! We got to see our little squirt on ultrasound and hear it's precious little heartbeat. I've got to say that is one sound that never gets any less amazing!

My first trimester symptoms have been:

-a generally nauseous feeling most of the day, especially if I get too hungry or too full (wondering if this means it's a boy, because I was never sick with Kenna!)

-very emotional mood swings... tearing up over silly little things like radio commercials, and silly little things setting off my temper!

-super hungry with lots of cravings! Perfect example- a few weeks ago we got Chinese food and the only thing that sounded good was crab rangoon, and it was the best crab rangoon EVER. Also craving pasta and potatoes like I did with Kenna- any comfort food to calm the queasies.

-I've been uncharacteristically sleepy. Not just tired, but can't keep your eyes open sleepy! Pretty much anytime Kenna takes a nap, I lay down for a few minutes too. Matt has been super helpful in this area- putting dinner on the grill while I sleep for a little bit and things like that.

Basically, my pregnancy symptoms resemble the 7 Dwarfs... Hungry, Queasy, Cranky, Clumsy, Crampy, and Sleepy... that's 6... and Weepy.

But so far, we are all healthy and happy and thankful for this immense blessing from the Lord... all 4 of us!