It's a........

GIRL! Well, most of you probably already know that by now, but I'm still excited! I couldn't wait until 20 weeks to find out at my "big" ultrasound, so I scheduled a gender reveal at the 3D ultrasound office. She's ALL girl! I knew already. Honestly, everything in my head, heart, and body told me that our baby was a "she." With Emma, I started out thinking girl, then changed to boy, and was honestly surprised when we found out she was a girl. With this one, the ultrasound was mainly to prove it to Brad!


She, just like her big sister, had NO issue showing us the goods. No pride, I tell ya. She was just precious, even without fat under her skin. She was constantly moving and flipping around and the ultrasound tech could barely let us listen to her heartbeat for a few seconds because she kept moving. Just like her big sister already!

Her name will be Abigail Marie Gilchrist, and we'll call her Abby. Abigail was just a name that Brad and I both loved. Marie was my grandmother's (Dad's mom) middle name, as well as mine. I love that my 2 girls are named after such strong, special women.


Shortly after finding out the good news, I found out that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. After an agonizing 3 hour test (4 blood draws from my arm, and a good 3 hours waiting around the waiting room), I found out that I failed that one too. Not by a large margin, but enough to earn the diagnosis of "gestational diabetes." In all honesty, part of me has always wondered if I may not have had a slight case when I was pregnant with Emma. I passed both of my tests then, but she was 9lbs, and had low blood sugar at birth, which are both signs of GD in the mom.

So today I had my "diabeetus education" class. It was fascinating. Actually, it was as boring as hell. I learned a lot, but much of it was common sense and it was a LONG day. So now I get to continue testing my blood 4 times a day. Thanks to my sister-in-law who has type 1 diabetes, I had been checking my blood for about 2 weeks now with her borrowed monitor. I am on a special diet that includes counting carbs and eating every 2 hours. It's quite a life changer for me. But, as I told Brad tonight, I'd do anything for my girls.

I also had my regular OB appointment this afternoon which, conveniently, was just one floor down from the class. The doctor said that everything looks great with Abby and he wants me to stop taking Metformin (which I've been on since I was trying to get pregnant with Abby - it helps women with PCOS to ovulate). This may make my glucose levels a bit more unpredictable than they have been. We'll see. He also told me that he would be the one dealing with my GD, which made my day. I trust him SO much and have such a good relationship with him. I have my "big" ultrasound on Wednesday with the perinatologist. I'll apparently be seeing quite a bit of him as well, as they like to keep an eye on the baby's size as she grows. LOTS of medical intervention this time around, as it was with Emma. At least it's the perinatologist and not the cardiologist this time!

I know from experience, and from having a tough pregnancy and delivery with Emma - once you look into their eyes, it makes EVERYTHING worthwhile.

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!

We had SUCH a great holiday break! It was very busy, but fun. We went to the Christmas Eve mass that was the children's service at 4:00, and then to dinner at Brad's parents' house after. I wish I could say mass was a success, but Emma is at the age where she has no interest in holding still. We had to leave before communion :( Maybe next year!


We celebrated Emma's Grandpop's birthday with him on Christmas eve as well, and he read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to her. I wish I had more pictures of that event. Emma was exhausted from a very busy day, no nap, and it was way past her bedtime. She listened like a good girl for all of 30 seconds (long enough for me to snap one picture) and then fell out like a demon overtook her little body. She arched her back, she screamed, she did her best imitation of the girl from The Exorcist. It was hysterical!


We looked at Christmas lights on the way home - one of Emma's favorite things to do. She sits in her carseat (that now faces front) and says "lights!!!!" She went to bed like a good little girl, but woke up earlier than usual. I think she was too excited to sleep.

We had the BEST time on Christmas morning. She really got excited this year. She still doesn't understand Santa (but is terrified of him, nonetheless) but she certainly understands presents! She had no interest in opening packages this year, but loved playing with her new toys that Santa left her.


Once we played for awhile and got dressed, fed, and ready to go, we headed to my parents' house to celebrate. We opened presents and had a great lunch - you can't go wrong with Honeybaked Ham! I think my parents just adored watching her open presents. She's really gotten into imaginative play lately, and got several "cooking" toys. She loved a Melissa and Doug cookie decorating kit, and brownie making kit (they're all wood). She had a blast.


We headed home for a nice nap, and when we got up it was time to head to Brad's parents house for Christmas #3. They got Emma a kitchen for Christmas! She adored playing with it with her Aunt Stacie. They had so much fun.


We had a few days to recover, and then left for Richard B. Russell State Park for a few days with them. If you are wondering where that is, head up 1-85 and once you start seeing nothing but cows and signs for South Carolina, you're nearly there. It was quite a ride!

We had a great time and it was such a nice getaway. We had one cabin and Brad's parents and Stacie had a cabin next door. It was great because Emma had her own room. She has a really hard time getting to sleep in new places. She's a creature of habit and her bedtime routine at home is IDENTICAL every night. I credit that with how good of a sleeper she is. Once she fell asleep, she slept through the night until around 8:30 both mornings. We celebrated Stacie's 25th birthday while we were there, and Emma certainly enjoyed her cake!

She has just been amazing us lately. Brad and I talk and talk about how much her speech has developed just over the last week or so. She says "bite" when she wants a bite of something. Here are a few others so that I can remember them down the line:

juice
Brobee (a character from Yo gabba gabba)
puppy
night night
car
no
more
down
grapes
cracker
cookie (as in "cookie monster")
Elmo
Abby (from Sesame Street)
Mommy
Daddy
Mimi
water
nose (she can identify all of the parts of the face, and some body parts)
flower (comes out "flow-ah" SO cute!)
hot
diaper
baby


She's just incredible. She's SO smart that it just blows my mind. The other day she pulled a step stool over to the stove at my parents' house when my Dad was cooking - we're in trouble!

I felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday! I think I had been feeling some little bitty kicks for a few days, but they were more pronounced yesterday. I felt even more today - this one likes to kick my bladder more than Emma did at this point! We find out the sex tomorrow, if baby will cooperate. Emma never had an issue with that - she practically sat on the ultrasound probe every time I had an ultrasound!

Can't wait to see whether Emma will have a brother or a sister!

Santa!

Well I'm officially (pretty sure) in my second trimester!! It only gets more fun from here, from what I remember. My morning sickness is somewhat better. I still vomit every.single.morning, but that's usually the only time. We can hear the baby's heartbeat on the doppler that we rented and it's the best sound in the world, aside from Emma's of course. I have an early 4D ultrasound scheduled in 3 weeks to find out the sex - I just can't wait!!

Emma's been quite a pill lately. She had been really fighting her afternoon nap (she usually takes a morning nap and an afternoon one). She would lay in her crib and play for upwards of an hour before falling asleep. She was very happy to do that, but by the time she would fall asleep, it would be nearly time to wake her up or let her sleep and risk her not sleeping at night. A few days ago I decided to try and see if she was ready for 1 nap a day. Day 1 of the experiment she slept for about 1.5 hours. Not good. She usually gets a combined 3.5-4 hours during the day. Day 2 she slept for 2.5 hours, which was better. Day 3 she was back to barely 1.5 hours. On top of that, she's been a fuss bucket by dinner time. As if that weren't enough, as they say "good sleep begets good sleep." She went from sleeping a solid 11-12 hours a night, to waking up around 5:30 and rolling around and playing most of the morning. It just wasn't working. So today, we're back to 2 naps. I'm hoping she quits fighting that afternoon nap that she so desperately needs. Mommy needs the break!!

We had a really fun weekend. On Friday we had a playdate with my friend Mary and her little boy, Jack. Jack is almost 2.5 and is precious. Mary is about to pop Jack's baby brother out any minute now (fingers crossed!) and it was likely our last time to see them before they have a new addition. Emma loved playing with Jack. She gave him a run for his money! My girl has some attitude these days, and is quite a handful!


On Saturday we went to the Christmas party that my mom's job has every year. Emma got to play music (which she LOVED) run around, and visit.........the old man. We haven't talked much about him in our house because I wasn't sure what she'd think. Last year she was enamored. Every single picture I've seen of kids Emma's age lately have been "Santa Fail" pictures of screaming, terrified children. Well, Emma has her own to add to the pile! She was great while we were in line waiting. She walked around with her Mimi and watched other kids sit on Santa's lap. She seemed like she was going to be fine. Until I sat her on his lap. Every single bone in her poor little body stiffened up! She freaked out. After we got several pictures of said freak out, I took her and sat next to Santa. She was just as terrified. It made for some good pictures though! Enjoy!

Last Year:

This Year:

That last picture is sort of freaking me out - is it just me, or do I look exactly like my mother???

On Sunday it snowed!! It looked like a blizzard outside, but NONE of the snow stuck to the ground. We took Em outside very briefly so that she could see it and feel it on her face. She wasn't that thrilled. Brad and I got some more last minute Christmas shopping done at IKEA while the snow stopped.

It was a really nice and productive weekend. This is Brad's last week before Christmas break and we're READY! I can't wait for Christmas morning this year. It's going to be so much more fun now that Emma sort of understands and will be able to get excited about new toys and stuff. She loves looking at the tree, and has been an angel about not destroying it. We only decorated the top 2/3 just in case!

Now I'm off to address and stamp some Christmas cards! Happy holidays!

Wordless Wednesday

Our newest Peanut

Once again I have to start out by saying that I've been a very bad blogger lately. But....this time I have a very good excuse!! Morning sickness! As of today, I'm 11 weeks and 3 days pregnant with Emma's little brother/sister (I'd be willing to bet big money that it's a sister, but I haven't the money!). We're very excited. We had been really trying for about 3 months - much shorter than when we got pregnant with Emma! My goal was to plan things so that this baby would be due around the time Emma was so that Brad would be home for the summer to help me out. We did good - the due date is June 18th and Emma's 2nd birthday is June 22!

Ultrasound 7 weeks, 3 days

Like I said, I've had terrible morning sickness. I have been thinking that it's worse than with Emma, but after looking back at my pregnancy journal, it's really not. With Emma, I once got so sick and threw up so violently that I caused my cervix to bleed, and another time I actually broke blood vessels IN my eyeball. Gross. This time I've had a few broken blood vessels on my face, and lost 9 lbs, but that's it.

So far, things have gone pretty smoothly. My blood pressure has been a little higher than usual, but not "high" so the doctors are keeping an eye on it. Other than that, and the all-day nausea/vomiting, things are great!

We had a bit of a scare this week though. We rented a doppler to hear the heartbeat, as we did with Emma. We've been trying and trying for a week or so, but haven't heard anything. I told myself that I wouldn't panic until I saw my doctor (who I love tremendously and would likely want to marry were I not already married, and were he not playing for the other team). Well, Dr. D listened for a good 10 minutes. He pushed, poked, and prodded. He made my uterus contort into positions I didn't think possible, and nothing. He told me not to worry, and I tried not to. He wanted to squeeze me in for a quick ultrasound before worrying. He stuck his head in to tell me this, and asked how I was doing. I told him I was going to hold it together as long as he told me to. He came in and sat back down with me - that's what kind of doctor he is. Once he was satisfied that I hadn't lost all hope, he left and I waited.

By this point, my knees were shaking. I had already sent out a quick "please pray" on facebook because I know how much some prayer warriors can do in times of need. I prayed to every saint I could think of, and called my mom and Brad to ask them to pray too. The ultrasound tech came out and took me back to the ultrasound room.

I've had so many experiences in that very room. It was the place where I was first told that my baby wasn't developing properly. The place where I was told I was in the process of miscarrying. It was also the place where I heard Emma's heartbeat for the very first time. Many tears had been shed there - and I was a big mess. As soon as the tech put the ultrasound probe on my belly she said "it's jumping!" I burst into tears. She handed me tissues as she kept scanning. The baby had a perfect heart rate of 162. We watched it jump, flip over, kick, and move it's arms. I was in love. Only once have I ever been so relieved in my entire life - the day that I heard Emma's heartbeat after spotting and thinking I was miscarrying again. Praise GOD!! The pictures are a little blurry, probably because I was hysterical, but also because she was in a hurry! I think he/she looks a little like Emma did in her 12 week ultrasound. What do you think?

Profile Picture - his/her head is on the left

Sweet little foot :)

I got to see my doctor again and hear a "SEE! I told you not to worry!" The ultrasound tech thinks that I may have an anterior placenta, where the placenta is attached to the front of my uterus, making it a little harder to listen to a heartbeat or feel kicks. Then again, it's also a little on the early side to trust a doppler anyway. I felt SO much better! I go back right before Christmas for a regular appointment. We SHOULD be able to hear the heartbeat then, unless this little monkey has other plans!

Emma is doing SO well! She's just Mama's little angel. She's talking up a storm. She'll repeat just about any single word that you ask her to, or try to. She says "hot" and blows on food - even if it's not hot! My mom asked her if her doll needed a clean diaper. Emma sniffed the butt!!! We all cracked up. When we say her prayers every night, she ends it with "may-men." It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. She's a climber, and has gotten into some trouble for climbing on furniture and looking at me with a guilty face while she does it. We've recently had to start implementing "time out" which is working beautifully. That Supernanny sure knows her stuff.

We had a great Halloween - Emma dressed up as a butterfly and trick or treated in Brad's parents neighborhood. We had a great time - and Brad even got to terrorize some little children while handing out candy. Would you believe that she left the hat on the entire time???


We're looking forward to Emma's second Christmas. It feels so strange to think that this is her second. She still is so much of a baby to me! She's going to get lots of great presents from Santa and her grandparents. We put up the tree (fake this year - think we'll start the tradition of a real tree next year once she's not trying to pull it over!). She loves it. We are going to decorate it this weekend. I can't wait to see what she thinks of it and of all of the Christmas houses and decorations. She's so much fun right now. She loves baby dolls, is very affectionate, and is just an angel. She'll often come up to me and get some "sugar" AKA wet mouth kisses! It's the sweetest thing. She thinks my Dad hung the moon. She runs up to him with her arms up every time she sees him. She can even say Grandaddy!

I feel like there's so much more to say, but I can't even think because I've missed blogging about so much. I'll update regularly now - I promise!!

October

I've been a very, very bad blogger lately. I have my reasons. A lot's been going on! We've been busy getting ready for Halloween over here. Emma's going to be a pink and purple butterfly. It's the cutest costume I've ever seen - I'll be sure to get lots of pictures.

With all of the Halloween festivities, Emma's been having nightmares. She get scared of strange things very easily. We went to a pumpkin patch to get our "big" pumpkin and she saw a blow-up display of 3 witches stirring a pot. She was terrified. That led to her, screaming hysterically from the time we put her down to sleep until around 11:00PM. It's really sad. There's almost nothing worse in the world than the sound of your baby being scared.

Pardon the blur - the lighting was horrible!

Lots of things have induced nightmares lately. There's a rocking horse at my mom's office that scares her, our Jack-o-Lantern, a Snoopy singing toy that Brad's mom got her last Halloween (that was the WORST!). It's terrible. I'm really ready for Halloween to be over with so that she won't have such a hard time.

She's usually an excellent sleeper. She goes down to bed around 8:30 and sleeps until around 9:30 the next morning without waking up. She takes 2, 1-2.5 hour naps a day. She has a tendency to play in her crib for quite awhile before falling asleep though.

She's running everywhere! She's a busy little bee. She's talking up a storm as well. I sat down and made a quick list of her words:

Waffle

Hot

More (word and sign)

Mama

Dada

Grandpa

Lucy

Bailey

Love

Banana

Milk (sign)

Finished (sign)

Swing “weeeeee!”

Hello

Olivia

Quack

Baby

Grapes

Shit (my fault – I dropped something and said it and she repeated – but she’s only said it twice!!)

Raisins

Cracker

Meow

Bark, bark, bark (her version of a dog sound)

She recently got a new toy that she LOVES! A family that my mom sees at work was getting rid of a HUGE school bus toy that their son had outgrown. Brad went to pick it up for us and Emma LOVES it! You can tell by the pictures. Her favorite thing to do with it is climb it :( In fact, she'll climb just about anything these days.

She also got some new shoes! She has tiny feet - she wears a size 4 wide. Short, fat, little feet!

Another thing that's been going on is my Dad's chemotherapy treatments. He's been having a really tough time with them. He's had 2 treatments so far and is suffering a LOT from the stomach issues that go along with them. We're hoping and praying that it's doing some good and that he'll feel better soon.

I promise to be a better blogger soon!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Patch

We had SUCH a busy and fun weekend! Friday was our 5 year wedding anniversary, so Brad's mom came over and watched Emma while we went to dinner and to run a few errands. Saturday we got up early to get on the road to Berry Patch Farms for the Pumpkin Patch! Every year my mom's company (Lekotek) has an event there, and we never miss it. Here's a post about last year's pumpkin patch adventures. This year it was SO much more fun! Our friends Mary and Jack met us there, and Emma was enthralled. There were animals to look at (turkey, baby cow, pigs, etc.) and tons of pumpkins. We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and Emma went to work picking out the best baby pumpkins she could find. She thought they tasted pretty good too!

When we got to the part of the patch with the BIG pumpkins, Emma was so excited that she never even turned around so that I could get a good picture. Oh well. I had to settle for several cute ones of the back of her head.
After we finished at the pumpkin patch, we hitched a ride on the hay wagon again and went back to the farm stand so that Daddy could pay for the little pumpkins. We discovered last year, it's not worth it to buy our BIG pumpkin there - they are EXPENSIVE!! We'll get that one this week.

As soon as we got back, Grammy found us and took Emma off to play. They had lots of fun. Can you tell??


And, my favorite picture from the entire day...