27 weeks pregnant

Baby girl and me at my lovely workstation. Isn't it so inviting?! I know, you're jealous!

I am now 27 weeks pregnant and growing fast! I had my check up yesterday and here are the latest facts:

• This Friday starts the infamous 3rd trimester! Wow!
• She is measuring a week early. Doesn't mean much, she could slow down or speed up in growth
• We still do not have a name for this little girl! Thanks to my husband's busy schedule and indecisive mind, we have not 100% agreed on a name yet. If you know me at all, you know this is completely stressing me out! I gave him the deadline of April 15th. Considering he hasn't finished our taxes yet, he can knock both out by that date!
• I gained 7lbs last month! Wow! Too many homemade chocolate chip cookies every night! It's okay, though. I'm still weighing in less than I did with Roman at this time. Crazy! Doctor still says that chasing a toddler this time around changes everything and I completely agree! So I'm in for a total weight gain of 14lbs.
• I have braxton hicks every single day, multiple times a day. It's crazy! The doctor says that it's completely normal to have more in the 2nd pregnancy because it's just my body knowing what to do.
• I took the glucose test yesterday. Haven't found out if I passed. I sure hope so because I completely forgot about it and indulged in apple pie and chocolate chip cookies the day before!
• I am a walking emotional time bomb waiting to explode. I'm so sorry if I have cried to you about nothing or raised my voice at you. I simply am going crazy! Never knew my emotions could be this crazy! I always thought it was silly to blame something like this on being pregnant, but I don't know what else it could be. I think it's the extra estrogen from little girl. Sorry friends!
• One day I'll be starving and eat tons and the next, I'll just eat normal. No big changes.
• We can't wait to meet little sister, but also can. She can just hang on and cook as long as she needs. We've got so much to do in her room and so much planning! I'm just trying to enjoy these days of being pregnant and having one very active child. Things are going to be CRAZY when she gets here. I'm also enjoying my 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep! I am not quite ready for middle of the night feedings again! On the other hand, I'm so excited to hold our precious little girl and bond with her during those feedings. Soon!

Baby girl nursery "before" pictures

This bedroom used to be one of our guest bedrooms. We moved the queen size bed out and brought in the crib.

The crib and the changing table are hand-me-downs from the triplets. We are so grateful to have them both! Roman is still happy in his crib and I didn't want to force him into a big boy bed yet, but didn't want to purchase a new crib too!

The furniture is mine from when I was a baby, so it is very sentimental to me. I thought that by using my old furniture that designing her room would be a simple breeze. Not so much! I decided that all of the furniture needs to be repainted white because it's been scuffed so many times. So we are in the process of sanding and re-painting the desk, changing table, and dresser. I am also repainting the existing hardware on the drawers to a bronze to match the new curtain rod.

Speaking of painting, we also are going to paint the walls of the room. No stripes this time! I'm still deciding on a color. The crib bedding was ordered 7 weeks ago! I am waiting until I receive it sometime next week to pick the final wall color. We plan to use the chocolate brown rocking chair and ottoman that is in Roman's room now, so somehow I have to tie in chocolate brown to the color scheme. The bedding is all mostly white with hints of pink.

We also already had the white window sheers. I love so much that they tie in bow! So feminine! I plan to change the curtain rod to a double rod and add light pink black-out draperies that I found from RH baby and Child. I am obsessed with the black out draperies in Roman's room. Anything to have the baby sleep longer, right!

I'm in the process of painting two different flower pictures for her room. Below is the first painting. I still am working on the second. I plan to frame them in a white frame.

The room is such a work in progress, but it's so exciting!! This is my passion!!! Hope it turns out just like I want! Ha! Yes, just like Roman's room, I have drawn many 3-d renderings of what the finished project will look like!

I AM A DORK!!

Five Years of Bliss!

Last Friday, March 25th, was our five year anniversary. I can't believe we've been married for five years!! It's been an amazing ride for both of us! Matt and I both agree this has been the best five years of our entire lives!

Matt had to fly on our anniversary, so he had tulips sent to the house. Roman and I enjoyed the beautiful flowers!! Tulips are such happy flowers!

Saturday night we got Roman's teacher at school to come babysit while we went out for dinner. It was so great to go out on a date! It's been a while! We had a great time. I'm such a cheap date right now, cause all I drink is water. No wine with dinner really cuts the bill short! Ha! After dinner, we picked up some cheese cake from the Cheesecake factory and took it home. We even brought Cara, Roman's babysitter, a piece. We love her and thought she deserved some too!

We would have never guessed that I would be pregnant with our 2nd child by five years of marriage! We feel blessed!

Family photo before our dinner date!

I love you Matt so much! You are such an amazing husband and father. I feel so blessed to be able to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you so much more today than on our wedding day! You're the best!

Love, Ash

Two Year Facts

We took Roman to his 2 year check up yesterday and he's doing great! The doctor can completely tell a difference in his speech since his adenoid and ear tube surgery.

Here are his statistics:

Weight: 30 lbs - 75%

Height: 34-1/2" - 50%

Head Circ.: 19-1/2" - 75%

Roman is growing so fast!!! Here are some fun facts about our little man:

• Roman loves to eat meat! He's a steak eating machine! Such a boy!
  
• Roman sleeps from 8pm to 8am every day and takes a nap usually around 1-3pm
• He is not usually affectionate, but will sometimes stop and give Momma and Dadda hugs. They are so special and precious to us! I sometimes even get a little kiss on the lips!
• Roman loves the Barney song and requests it often by anyone who will sing it. "I love you, You love me..." (you get it!)
• Roman still sleeps with his dabba (metal measuring cup) and knot. Knot is his blanket that has a knot tied at one end. Silly boy! Sometimes when he wakes in the mornings, I'll hear him hitting his leg with dabba and telling dabba no! How funny?!
• Roman started playing pretend a lot! We pretend feed Barney the stuffed animal milk and we brush Barney's teeth.
• Roman loves the Black Eyed Peas song, 'I Gotta Feeling'. I used to like the song too! Until I downloaded it on iTunes and now we listen to it in the car, after dinner, pretty much anytime! He dances around to the song all of the time! He calls it "who who". So funny!!
• Roman loves mimicking his daddy at everything he does! I noticed him watering the plants like daddy just yesterday. What a great role model to have!
• Roman has started the stall tactic before nap time and bedtime. He will suggest things like he needs more water or needs to brush his teeth again. Smart little fella!

Here he is stalling by trying to color before bed last night!

• Roman is in the process of learning his letters. He now can always pick out the letters 'D', 'T', 'W', 'O', and sometimes 'A', 'B', and 'C'. We love the Leap Frog Letter Factory movie and refrigerator letters. They're so helpful!
• Roman's favorite color is definitely blue! He also can pick out green, orange, red, and black. We try to go over colors all of the time. He loves to look at the stop lights and yell, "green" when it changes and is time to go!
• Roman loves airplanes and yells, "airplane" when he hears one outside. It's so cute that he can also already associate airplanes with his daddy!
• Roman will probably have to have surgery again! He still has an umbilical hernia. The pediatrician recommended we speak with a surgeon this calendar year. Poor thing! That would be 3 surgeries before he turns 3 years old!

We love you, sweet Roman, so much!! You have blessed our lives more than you could possibly imagine!!! It is so bitter sweet to see you grow up so fast! We are so proud of you and all that you do. We are your biggest fans!

Love, Momma and Dadda

Weekend time with the family

Daddy was home this weekend and the weather was beautiful! It was so fabulous! We took a family ride to the park! Roman loves his new wagon.

I'm now 26 weeks pregnant.

Daddy, Roman, and Barney came too!

Sunday afternoon we started planting our garden. It was so wonderful to see Roman get so excited about gardening! He wanted to be such a big helper!

Roman told mommy exactly where to dig! Don't you just die over his adorable sailor outfit that Grandma got him?!

Bye Bye Meema

Meema (my mom) got to come and stay with us a few days around Roman's birthday. It's always so great to have her. Roman loves his Meema. We were so sad to see her go. She probably won't be back until baby sister is born. She's planning on staying with us for a month during that time! Yippee!!! We love you Meema!

As Roman would say, "Bye bye Meema"!

Park time with my cousins

We loved having Mark and the triplets come in town for Roman's birthday weekend. Roman had a blast with his cousins!! Sunday afternoon, we all walked to the park for an afternoon of fun.

Roman and Reagan in the wagon

Gracie and Will in the double stroller

Here we all go!

Roman loves to swing!

Reagan was a pro at the swing!

Uncle Mark was there to push Roman while daddy was at work

Will is such a big boy!

Go Gracie go!

Roman loved having Will push him!

After a little park fun, we went and all had a picnic.

Roman kept trying to run off into the woods. It was so funny seeing both of his grandmothers trying to chase him! He's so fast!

What a great Sunday afternoon!

Family goals/accomplishments

This morning I was thinking about all of the changes that Matt and I have made since I first was pregnant with Roman. I want to write them down so I remember to always strive to do these things even through the pressures and stresses of the days, especially when we have 2 children to occupy our time. We're already doing most of these items now. It feels so refreshing to try to live a healthy, balanced life.

• Grow closer to God by reading the Bible daily or doing some sort of Bible study
• Have a daily, private prayer time
• Continue to tithe and even try to go above the tithe
• Give more of our time and money to others in need
• Be more thankful and grateful for everything we have
• Soak up the small moments with our family that are so precious and go so fast
• Exercise in some form at least three times a week. I'm so glad that staying fit is so important to Matt and me. We both push each other on this goal often!
• Eat more fruits and vegetables and incorporate them into every meal
• We buy organic in all of the dirty dozen and don't mess with the least contaminated foods
• Buy only whole grain bread
• Plant a vegetable/herb garden every year
• Walk our dog more often. Poor Captain tends to gain weight in the cold winter months.
• Continue to recycle anything that we can
• We try to never buy products with partially hydrogenated oil. This junk is in so much packaged foods, it's so hard to avoid! We try to buy only natural peanut butter, organic crackers and cereals, and rarely buy chips.
• We also try to avoid high fructose corn syrup at all cost. Yes, I may drink part of a coke once or twice a month, but we really try to avoid it!

We're certainly not perfect and not trying to be perfect, but I know personally how life can be ended too soon. We are just trying as a little family to grow closer to God and take care of our bodies and what we put in them. After all, it's the only body that he gave us and he calls us his temples.

Corinthians 6:19-20 ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Baby Girl Clothes

Matt's mom got a little head start in getting our little girl some clothes, shoes, bibs, and hair bows!!

This is like Christmas but better!

Thank you Pambo!!

Daddy

Daddy is flying his first Delta flight tomorrow on the MD88!

We're so proud of him!!

Bounce house birthday fun!

We had such a great time celebrating Roman's 2nd birthday at the bounce house. He was so fortunate to have 18 of his close friends + 2 babies come play! Roman's face was pretty much beaming with joy the entire party!

They're all in line to go bounce! Tiffany brought her twins, Christian and Lincoln

Lauren and Derek came with their precious little Dean!

Matt, Greg, Dean, and Derek

Uncle Mark loved bouncing too!

The three pregnant leaguers! Heather, Ashley, and Lindsey

Cohen had a great time!

Jackson like pushing Chloe in the car

Austin is going to be a big brother around the exact same time as Roman!

Faith Kirby loved bouncing too!

Chloe wore herself out!

Super dad Brad enjoyed bouncing too!

Meema and Grandma both were there!

Cousin Reagan helped Roman throughout the entire party. She was his second mom!

Jake loved playing with the balls!

Madison came fully dress in her tutu!

Roman is such a ladies man!

Harlan had a great time!

William and Madeline joined in the fun!

We attempted a group picture. This was a little over half of the kids.

Roman had to sit on his buddy Chloe's lap!

Snack time! It was amazing to see the kids all sitting somewhat calmly eating their snacks. They were all exhausted from bouncing! We offered organic apples, crackers, and pretzels with juice boxes.

Roman's cupcakes!

It's time to sing to the birthday boy!

Our big boy!

He LOVED the cupcake!

His lips were stained blue the rest of the day!

Overall, I feel like the party was a success! The kids all seemed to have a blast! We are still in shock that our little man is already two years old!! Happy birthday sweet boy, we love you so much!!!