Big Day Tomorrow...

Our big ultrasound for baby Smith #2 is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. I am very excited to see how much the baby has grown since the last time we saw it at 9 weeks. I am also a little nervous about all of the anatomy scans they will be doing tomorrow to check the heart and other major organs, spinal cord etc... so please say a little prayer for us that we see a very healthy baby tomorrow and that I don't drive myself crazy with the "What ifs..." between now and then.

If nausea is any sign of health for a baby then this one will come out qualifying for the Olympics! I am STILL sick! This morning it came on so quick that I didn't have time to get Anderson out of the bathroom. Bless his heart, he saw everything. It broke my heart to know that I might be scaring him. He really surprised me by exclaiming..."Oh No!" and walking up behind me to put his hand on my back. I guess little boys really do love their mommas like everyone says!

Our neighbors down the street...see this post...found out Monday that they are expecting a BOY! Henry Mills Smith (no relation) will be arriving around the same time as our sweet little one. I have really been feeling boy about our baby for a couple of weeks now, which is really confusing since I was convinced up until this point that it was a girl. However, a few strange circumstances have occurred in the last few days that might be pointing to a girl...for instance, Jeff was on a work related call with a woman who gave her name and Jeff had to do an absolute double take and ask her to repeat it. It was our girl name and her last name was SMITH. And, not that we are telling, but our girl name isn't a very common one! Even with that though I am still sort of feeling boy...hmmm...don't you just love surprises!

Aunt Jenn's Turtle...

When Anderson was born my sister, Jennifer, sent him an adorable soft and fuzzy sea turtle that she bought for him at the Tampa aquarium. She had just moved to Tampa and I guess that was her way of sharing a little piece of her new home with her new nephew. When we got it that turtle was bigger than him! It has stayed one of his favorites as seen in these photos...

Anderson and the turtle at 7 weeks old

Anderson and the turtle "pillow" at almost 21 months

Also...check out this sweeter than sweet video of Anderson and the very funny turtle one year ago this week!! He was about 9 months old. You may need to hit pause on the music player to the bottom right to hear the video.

Rough morning...

Obviously he would have preferred to sleep in!

18 weeks...almost half way there!

So here is a dreaded pregnancy photo! I never took them with Anderson because I hated the idea of having all of these pictures of myself with a big belly! However, this time I am going to try to take one every few weeks to document this little one's life in the womb. I am feeling better, but the nausea and indigestion are still around but bearable at least. We go next Thursday for our ultrasound and although everyone always thinks of it in terms of finding out the sex, it is actually a full anatomy scan for the baby. I was so nervous with Anderson that something would be wrong that I could barely enjoy finding out he was a boy. Unfortunately, the closer we get to this ultrasound the more I find myself worrying about this little one's health as well.

I had a friend that went in for her ultrasound excited to find out what the sex was and instead found out that her precious little girl had Spina Bifida. They were completely thrown off guard and so upset. That memory has always stayed with me. While I know that we've seen dozens of healthy babies since then...it can happen...and no one thinks it will happen to them. If that is the case for some reason I know that our faith in God would get us through. He doesn't make mistakes, and I take great comfort in that. We will have just what he planned for us, and I know it will be His perfect will. At any rate, please say a few prayers for us between now and then. Pray for a healthy baby and a peace for Jeff and I leading up to that appointment.

On a more positive note, I can not wait to see this baby on the big screen. I will be sure to post pictures of the ultrasounds when I get back!

Our weekend in the 'Ham

This past weekend, Jeff left for the White Oak Lodge in Tuskegee for his annual firm retreat, and Anderson and I decided to make a little road trip. We went to Birmingham to stay with my friend Jennifer Cousins. She was brave to offer to let a 20 month old into her ADORABLE Homewood house, but she has 2 nephews and a niece so she knew what to expect...lots of curiosity! She even had a toy chest full of things for Anderson to play with...although sitting in the couch in her sunroom with a skylight directly overhead seemed to be his favorite thing to do!

We had a great time hanging out with Jennifer that day at the park. The weather was so nice that a million people were there! We called our other friend Julie (a fellow blogger...check out her link at the bottom right of my page) to bring her sweet little girl Bennett to meet us there. Anderson was so excited to see all of those kids and so many things to climb on...he was in little boy heaven! He even climbed a rock wall and slid down a slide by himself (with me VERY close by). He was so proud of his accomplishment! When he realized that he couldn't just roam wherever he wanted e.g. into the skateboarding area....yikes! he started to throw a fit. It was a doozy too and happened a few times within about 15 minutes. However, he didn't have a nap that day, so I was trying to cut him some slack! We have started the dreaded "Time-Out" though at home, which is another post entirely! ;-)

That night Jennifer cooked a very yummy meal for Julie and I while the kiddos hung out. Then Julie was off to put Bennett down and I put Anderson to bed and Jennifer and I got to catch up on everything that we never have time to talk about! We vegged out and watched entirely too much HGTV! Fun times! Sunday afternoon we headed back and so did Jeff. We missed Daddy, but had a great time in the 'ham!

I love this picture of Anderson looking at Bennett...it's like he's saying "So we are gonna have one of these things at our house soon?"

Baby McKenna

Last Friday I had the honor of getting a visit from our neighborhood's newest addition and her sweet mommy Beth! Beth lives just down the street from us, and I have really enjoyed getting to know her these past few months. Unfortunately, Beth's husband passed away last fall while she was expecting their first child. Since that day I vowed to befriend her so that she would have help very close by. That is one of the perks of being a stay at home mom...I can babysit her in a pinch or give Beth a break to go to the store or whatever errand without having to get the baby out! Her family and her late husband's are all out of state and my heart broke for her thinking about how difficult it would be to raise a baby completely by yourself. To read more of her story check out this post.

Well little Mckenna arrived the first week of January and it has been so much fun seeing her nursery and all of those little pink frilly things that come along with a precious baby girl! Friday Beth brought her over for a good long visit and I got to feed her...well I tried...but she wanted to sleep. It was so wonderful to hold a sleeping newborn again. It makes me really look forward to this August!

Beth is doing astoundingly well. She is truly one of the strongest people I know. She has totally embraced motherhood no matter how challenging her particular situation is. I have never heard her complain once, and all of us who have children know how difficult those first few weeks can be. I still tear up every once in a while when I pass by her house remembering what Jeff and I witnessed there on that horrible night. In fact when I received her birth announcement With the beautifully bittersweet words printed at the bottom " Beth and the late Dean Mann" I cried for 20 minutes. But Beth is so strong and so committed to being a good and happy mom to McKenna...How easy would it be to become bitter...yet she refuses!

I am so glad that I made an effort to get to know her after her horrible tragedy, and I am even more glad she was open to a new friendship with a stranger! I can't wait to see McKenna and Anderson riding bikes up and down our street in just a few short years! We love being in a neighborhood with so many children! It makes my heart smile to see them all outside on warm days! Mckenna is our newest addition to the 'hood and we just couldn't love her more!

Bizarro Pregnancy

This pregnancy has been so completely different than my pregnancy with Anderson that I joke about it being my bizarro pregnancy...you know like when the superfriends found another world of super-heros that were sort of like them but opposite in many ways! HA! As you know from earlier posts I had BAD morning sickness this time around, which was not the case with Anderson. It stopped a few weeks ago and I thought I was done, but it has reared its ugly head again in the last week. I didn't even know you could get it again after it went away! That's just plain cruel! Another difference is the indigestion. It is brutal this time around! I am chugging mylanta like it's going out of style. With Anderson I only got it the last month or so...not nearly this early! They say that means the baby will have lots of hair...Jeff says he wants a paternity test if it does! Hee Hee!

I am finishing up week 16, which is so weird because it feels like the time is just flying by this time around! I can't believe I am almost halfway done! Starting week 17 means I am in my 5th month...Holy Cow! Is that really possible? I have been feeling the baby for about the last week or so intermittently. It is still the coolest sensation ever! I am also, as of yesterday, having to break out the maternity clothes. I can still wear lots of regular shirts, but pants and jeans are another story! I am starting to show, but if you didn't know I was preggo you'd probably not pick up on it. I am betting this will change drastically in the next month!! I have an appointment Friday for my monthly check in with my Dr. and then on March 13th (two weeks from then) we will have our ultrasound. I can't wait to see this baby on the big screen!!

Of course, Jeff is still bugging me about finding out the sex, and sadly I am starting to see his point about all of the benefits of "knowing". I didn't want a gender neutral nursery, so my solution was to pick out all of the girl bedding, paint, etc and then all of the boy bedding, paint, etc. After the baby gets here simply call to order and wait a few short weeks for it all to get here. Plus we'd have to order extra fabric for the curtains and then wait for it to come in and then have them made. I was going to try to have someone in the family paint the nursery while we were at the hospital. Jeff points out that this will be a huge pain and that we will need help with Anderson more than a painted room. He also knows my love of order and having things done and thinks it will drive me crazy to wait on the bedding for 6 weeks after the baby arrives...hmmm....he is probably right on that point as well. He is also begging so that he can bond with the baby. He says that I can feel it everyday, but that to him it's like a Christmas present that hasn't come in the mail yet. Knowing the sex will help him visualize the baby and start calling it by name instead of "it" he says. Who knows...maybe I'll stay strong or maybe I'll cave and we'll just keep it to ourselves. Mom and sisters...this is NOT an open invitation to call every five seconds to pressure me into finding out! I know you can smell blood in the water, but try to control yourself!! ;-)