Ava's going to have a....

Little Sister!!! Apparently, Ava was right! We are so excited! We had our ultrasound this morning and the baby looks really good! She is measuring right on track. I can't wait to start getting her nursery together. We'll be doing that much earlier this time. Neither one of us want to be stressed out that it's not finished when this baby arrives.

Many people have already asked, so I'll put it on here. We are naming her Audrey Kate. I just love Ava and Audrey together!

We didn't get any great profile shots, but here are a couple pictures from out ultrasound today.

Definitely a girl!


Here is a cute picture of her foot.

Ava's Gender Prediction

This morning I was telling Ava that we are going to the doctor tomorrow to see the baby and find out if the baby is a boy or a girl. She immediately said "girl". I asked her if she thought mommy was having a boy or a girl and she said "girl" again. Then she pointed to my stomach and said, "baby girl, yeah, baby girl." I guess we'll see if Ava's gender prediction is correct. :)

Then, I was telling her that she is going to play with Gigi while Mommy goes to the doctor tomorrow. She told me she wanted the baby to stay and play. Yes, the baby in my tummy. Obviously, she gets that there is a baby, but she can't figure out why it won't come out and play with her. :)

I can't wait to tell her about all of these sweet comments when she is older. She is so sweet to the baby. She will come up, rub my belly, and then give "the baby" a big kiss. Ava is going to make a great big sister!

Well, it's time for Ava's swimming lesson. I really need to take my camera and get some pictures of her. She is doing so good!!

Oh no...

A few minutes ago, I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup so Ava and I can go to the grocery store. Ava grabbed my hand-held mirror off the counter, looked at herself in it, and said, "wow, I'm cute!" Of course, I died laughing as she was running around the house with the mirror less than an inch from her face staring at herself. What have we done?? Maybe I should quit telling her she's the cutest girl in the whole wide world? ;)

Our "big" ultrasound is one week from today!! I can't wait! If you're wondering how Ava is feeling about this pregnancy, I think this picture will sum it up.



Yes, that is my pregnancy journal and she scratched out the pregnant lady on the cover. Here is a closer picture.


The scary thing is that she found a pen, went into my room, found the journal, and started writing on the front. There were several other books right with that one and she didn't write on any of those. :)

1 Week 6 Days...

Until we find out the sex of our baby!! I am soooo excited! I had a check-up today and we got to schedule our "big" ultrasound. I hope the next 2 weeks fly by! It will be so nice to say girl or boy and call the baby by name!! Also, my check-up went fine. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. This baby is acting just like Ava and hanging out really, really low!! I am tall and have plenty of room for these babies, but they like to snuggle up right at the bottom! :)

We also had Ava's 2 year check-up last week. She is also doing great! Here are her stats:
Height: 37" (>95%)
Weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. (35%)

She is really tall!! She is "off the charts" for her age. The doctor kept commenting on her height. I thought she might be taller than average because other moms always comment on how tall she is when they find out her age.

I've been waiting for her to turn two because there is this cool height predictor on babycenter.com that you can use when your child turns 2. They take their height and weight at age two along with the mom and dad's height and tell you how tall your child will be at 18. I just did this and it says Ava will be 5 ft. 11 in.! The disclaimer says there is a 50% chance the child will be within 0.7 in. of that height and a 90% chance that the child will be within 1.7 in. of that height. It will be really interesting to see how accurate the predictor turns out to be. Our pediatrician thinks she'll be really tall, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I need to take a new belly shot and post pictures of Ava's second birthday party. I may try to do that a little later.

15 Weeks

Wow, I can't believe I am 15 weeks pregnant already. Actually, I am 15 weeks and 1 day, but who's counting, right? This pregnancy seems to be going so much faster than my first, but it also feels like an eternity before I get to meet my little one. I am one of those people who absolutely loves being pregnant. I am torn between wanting it to be over so I can hold my little one in my arms and wanting to enjoy every second of having him/her inside of me and all to myself. Of course, many people say I love being pregnant so much because I:
1) delivered at 36 weeks and never got to that incredibly uncomfortable stage.
2) never got very big.
3) had a tiny baby that wasn't digging into my ribs all the time.

Only time will tell I guess. I choose to think that I just really enjoy being pregnant! :) I tell Kurt all the time that I would love to be pregnant 10 times, but I definitely don't want all the babies that come with that!

Having said how much I love being pregnant, it is definitely more difficult the second time. The first time, I could relax and just enjoy planning for our first child. This time I haven't even thought about baby bedding, decorating the nursery, etc. We've barely discussed baby names! There just isn't enough time in the day when you're chasing after a very active 2 year old constantly. I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby, so we can definitely start planning. Just five more weeks! Once again, we have our girl name picked out and have for weeks and cannot decide on a boy name to save our lives. It makes me wonder if it's a little girl again and we shouldn't even waste our energy discussing boy names. We really want to have both names picked out before the ultrasound so we can start calling this little baby by name. We'll see if we can agree in the next 5 weeks!

Okay, I got harassed (more in person than on here) for not posting my belly pictures last time. I should have posted those because they look better than the ones I took of myself yesterday. I think I'll have Kurt take mine from now on. Anyway, here is my big belly at 15 weeks.




I said I wouldn't post any of my shirt up with my second pregnancy, so we'll see how long I keep adding those on here. :)

Also, I can't believe I never posted about it, but I had an ultrasound at 13 weeks. Maybe I did, but I don't think I posted pictures. Anyway, the baby looked great. These pictures are now 2 weeks old and the baby's weight has doubled since then, but here they are anyway. I think he/she is already so cute!!




All stretched out

Happy Birthday Ava Grace!!

Today is Ava's second birthday. I cannot even believe it has been 2 years already! Things really have changed.

Here is Ava the day she was born.


Her first birthday


And yesterday at her birthday party


She is growing up way too fast, especially when she can tell you she is 2! She had a lot of fun at her party yesterday. She is having a second party in my hometown with her cousin Claire (one week older) in a few weeks, so don't think you weren't invited to her party (my family)! :)

We all know Ava is a little camera shy, but here are some pictures from yesterday. There were 119 pictures to choose from, so I had to narrow it down a bit.

Ava started off the morning with a chocolate and cream cheese kolache. She thought it was the best! We gave her one balloon ahead of time and she had to take it everywhere with her!




Here is a little shot of the goodies before everyone arrived


Hanging out in her playroom trying to get away from everyone :)


We set her up there to take a picture of her with her cake, but she kept sticking her fingers in and eating it.


Mmmmm...that's good.




Isn't her crown cute??



Finally...a piece of cake




Our one family picture from the day. She looks thrilled to be taking pictures with her parents.


She loved her rolling backpack she got from Aunt Donna and Uncle Tony!




Do you think she is proud of herself?




She wasn't sure what to think when everyone started singing to her!


Just a couple random pictures not from her birthday. As soon as Ava wakes up in the morning she starts asking for shoes and a bow. She loves to be stylish! Here she is the other day in her pajamas with her pink bow and pink boots.


She doesn't have time for us. She has places to go!