Its a girl!!!

The "all-knowing cake, that sat in our fridge for two days taunting us!!!

Thats right, there was PINK filling in that cake!!! Eliza gets a sister!!!

this is before-hand, everyone was choosing which color balloon

they wanted to hold for the picture...

there were only like 4 pink ones...

We had alot of celebrating going on....
It was Father's Day, and My birthday,
and we celebrated Davids birthday...
And the gender reveal!!!
I loved this picture because Eliza's face is all lit up -
she thought all of the singing was for her...sweet baby!!!

I am so happy that Eliza has some great aunties who love
to play with her and keep her happy and occupied!!



Little ham

She loves to do this....A-dorable!!

What a blessed weekend!! Not only did we get to find out the gender of our new baby, but we got to do it on Fathers day, and my birthday!!! Talk about the best present!! I was born on Fathers day, and about every 6 years or so it lands on fathers day again. I always loved that! I am blessed with some incredible men in my life to celebrate! I have the worlds best daddy, who has taught me so much, and continues to work hard and be there for our family. I have an absolutely incredible husband, who is the best daddy to our little girl (soon to be girls!). I couldnt have asked for any better, As corny as it sounds, it makes me want to cry thinking about this amazing man! I dont know what I did to deserve him!! I am so grateful for my wonderful Father-in-law who taught David so so much, and is such a beacon of strength and love to us all. Not to mention the amazing Uncles and Grandpas and brother-in-laws, and cousins who are daddy's!! Like I said before...we are so blessed with wonderful families!!

Thursday was my ultrasound. I was so excited, and could NOT wait til my 5:45 appointment. We brought Eliza, and it was so neat to have our whole little family there. Even though Eliza had no idea what was going on. It is always such a relief to see all four healthy chambers of the heart, and to see all the fingers, toes, a beautiful spine, etc. I love it!! That is when it is so real that there is a little life growing inside of me!! That and the movement I am feeling more,and more. They are starting to be more pronounced kicks, punches, and flips! I also came with an extremely full bladder, which I thought was necessary. Well apparantly it's not. When I had my Ultrasound with Eliza at 18 weeks the hospital (where I had the u.s. done) told me to come with a full bladder, so even though my dr.s office didnt mention it this time, I thought for sure I needed to and i didnt want to mess it up. HA. So it wasnt too big a deal, just totally uncomfortable for no reason, and because my bladder was so full, it caused my uterus to contract leaving very little room for baby girl to move around and give us good pics. 

But I love that we can officially say "she", and "baby girl"! I dont know what it is, but for some reason just knowing that its a girl makes me feel like I know her that much better! Like she's not such a mystery anymore. She is our DAUGHTER! Just thinking about having another daughter brings tears to my eyes. I remember all of the fun my sister Lauren and I had growing up because we were so close in age, and I am so excited for Eliza to have a lil sis. Even though I was shocked because I thought it was a boy, I am completely overjoyed!!! Now to come up with a name!!!

18 Weeks

This pregnancy is flying by!! And also, I know that my belly wasn't this big at 18 weeks with Eliza...things sure do change the second time around!! 18 Weeks today! Which means, in exactly one week we will be having our ultrasound!! I am so excited!! I keep having dreams that I peak, and see the gender (since we are having a gender reveal party) and it is always a boy...so we will see!! I would be thrilled to have another sweet baby girl too, but I just keep thinking boy lately. Hmmm, we'll see how on target I am. Not alot to update here in the pregnancy dept., so I apologize that these pics and updates will probably be pretty uneventful...but I documented Eliza's pregnancy so horribly, and really regret not having those memories/pics to look back on and to compare to. So this is mostly for my benefit=) Feeling more/bigger movements, which is the best!! I am also really loving my belly band this go-round. I only used it a handful of times with Eliza, but managed to stay in regular jeans all the way through. But this time, by the end of the day, my regular jeans are really REALLY uncomfortable on the scar from my c-section. And also, lets face it, I def. have it going on in the love handle department, and so the belly band is great for allowing me to comfortably wear my regular jeans, while avoiding any un-wanted love-handleage... ;-)

ANDDD...you know you have preggo-mommy brain when you go to put away the dish towels...in the refrigerator!!! HA, atleast that's what I am blaming it on!!

As for an Eliza update: She is still cuter than should be legal! She now folds her arms AND bows her head when we say "time for prayers"...mmmm melt my heart!!! She is a little chatter box, although still not really saying much we can understand. She is becoming little miss independence, and is extremely fiesty and DRAMATIC!!! Oh boy!! Before she started walking, I heard a lot of "when she starts walking, Watch out...that is when the trouble starts", and similar comments...but, I honestly love that she can walk!! The world has completly opened up to her! She can occupy herself in a way she never could before, and I'm not sure if it's just that her mind has reached a new level of development, and how much has to do with her new found mode of transportation, but she seems to be in her own little, almost imaginary world sometimes! It is so fun to watch her toddle around and kind of chatter to herself, and play with her little dishes, and purses and animals. Motherhood is the BEST!!!

Pics of the week:

So happy to be using her big girl cup with a straw!!


She brought out her frying pan while I was cooking dinner :)

This lil guy was on our back porch the other morning

and Eliza spent a good 10 mins following it and trying to catch it!

that is a record for the amount of time something has kept her occupied!!

"Hey lizard, come here"

My beautiful "baby sis" graduated from HIGH SCHOOL last Saturday!!

I cannot believe it!! She is so sweet and talented,

I cant wait to see where life takes her next!!!

Way-to-go Steph!!!
We love you sooo much!! <3

17 Weeks

{17 weeks}

(I am not sure what is going on with all of the weird spacing and stuff, sorry)
I realize that this is not the BEST picture, but it WAS the end of the day =} So I was seventeen weeks yesterday. And I got an exciting phone call telling me that instead of having our ultrasound on the 23rd of this month, we get to have it on the 16th!! Only TWO more weeks!!

We decided that we want to do a gender reveal party. I hadnt heard of anything like that when I was pregnant with Eliza, but it seems to be all the rage lately, and it sounds like so much fun!

It will be so exciting to find out the gender of our baby at the exact same time as all of our family!!

I have been feeling little pop-corn movements for a couple of weeks now which is the best! With Eliza, I didnt start feeling anything until 19ish weeks. I guess the second time around you are just more sensitive to it, or know what to look for?? I love it!!

Other than that, I am feeling great! I am nervous to be pregnant during the hot, muggy summer months since I am already not a huuuge fan of the heat + 90% humidity. We will probably be spending alot of time at the pool (or inside the air-conditioned apt.)

I am taking one summer class online this month, and one next month so it will be pretty easy.

David is only taking one starting in July, and I will be honest...I am really happy to have him home in the evenings for another month!!

Plus that means that he can go to the Ultrasound appt. with me!!!

And of course, here are some adorable pics of Eliza:

Ready to go on our walk with her cute pink shades

that lasted about 2 mins=)

She likes to put her sunglasses on her head
just like mommy =)

This is what she does when I ask her to "smile"!!
Little miss sassy pants
she gets more and more fun each day!!!