Kicks and Giggles

This week has been very exciting, since the baby has really started moving around! He or she has made his or her presence known, and I'm excited to share this sensation with my family. I can't wait for G to be sitting on my lap, and then realize that something kicked her from my stomach! Grace was also very cute tonight. I told her that we had to pray for a dear friend of mine's father, and she got on her knees (we were in the bathroom, so she kneeled over the toilet...but cute nonetheless!) She then said "God is great, God is good..." She couldn't remember the rest of the prayer, so she just mumbled to the tune, how adorable! Below I have included a little bit of information about my pregnancy so far. I found this on someone else's blog, but I thought it was a cute idea. Enjoy!

How far along? 19 weeks, I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going!
Maternity clothes? For the most part. Pants are a must, but I can still wear some of my non-pregnancy shirts.
Stretch Marks? I already had plenty from the the past (gotta love babies!) But no new ones as to date. I have been slathering on my stretch mark oil from Pure Romance (thanks Bethanie!) Only time will tell if I can refrain from getting any more stretch marks.
Miss Anything? Well sure, I miss having a glass of wine, going in hot tubs, eating sushi, and my energy. But if I could have anything right now, it would be the wine.
Movement: all of a sudden a lot more! I started noticing it around 16 weeks, but this week the movement has really kicked in. It has been every few hours throughout the day, I am excited for when Grace and Mike can feel the baby kick!
Food cravings: Still cheese and crackers, and cottage cheese.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope. It's funny, I am a lot tougher this time around. With Grace I couldn't even stand to look at (let alone smell) raw, and sometimes cooked meat. This time, nothing has really bothered me at all.
Gender: We will hopefully find out in 11 days :)
Labor Signs: Not yet.
Symptoms: Just rounding ligaments, and more tired than usual.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Mood: Pretty good. I am still worried about what the balance of my life will look like after I return back to work from having my little one, but it will be an adjustment for all of us.
Looking forward to: Getting to see our little guy or gal at the ultrasound, I haven't had one yet!

Welcome to Our Home Nature...

A month ago or so Grace and I found a fuzzy wuzzy (that's what we called it anyway...) on the ground, it looked like this:

My oh so sweet, animal (and I guess bug lover?) kissed this catepillar, then gave it a special seat on the deck. (In my chair.) She then carried it around the yard, and taught it how to play in the sand box. (I'm guessing a job working with bugs someday?)

Well, a month or so later, on this gorgeous night, we were building sandcastles in the sandbox when lo and behold our old friend graced us with his presence. This time, he looked like this:

Alright, alright, he didn't look exactly like this, and I don't even think that it was the butterfly/moth that fuzzy wuzzy's even become... but it was fun nonetheless. Grace enjoyed saying hello to her old friend, and trying to catch him. Her attempts were unsucessful, to the point where she asked him to leave, but a memorable moment to say the least. (A bonus lesson in science!)



Along with this, we also have some ducks that enjoy sunbathing on our pool tarp. You would think that living in the city would save you from the wildlife. Nope, it's here full force, and tends to wave it's err...feathers (or fur!) at us from time to time. My young animal lover was not pleased with this one. We were all ready to head out to the park with our popsicles when we spotted him. I yelled and waved, he didn't seem to mind, so we went out the front door instead. (I didn't really feel like being attacked by a duck. Do they even really attack? I know that swans do...) Going around the backyard, we look over, and he was still there! "Dumb duck!" G hollers....yup, you know who said that out loud five minutes prior. The joys of motherhood :)