Comparision in Size: We got a Bigger Baby- (or at least a bigger belly)!

38 weeks

14 weeks

18 Month Stats

Weight: We will find out next week when Ryan and her sibling go to doctor
Length: We will find out next week when Ryan and her sibling go to doctor
Eating: Ryan eats most everything. She loves milkshakes. Her behavior at restaurants is unpredictable and often terrible! She likes to eat in her little chair in front of the t.v. watching Barney or Mickey Mouse.
Sleeping: surprisingly no changes here. Sleeps 13 straight hours at night and still takes two good naps a day. Every now and then we skip the afternoon nap and she does okay. Before she starts her mothers day out program I plan to bump her morning nap back and get her down to one a day. Until then I am gonna let the girl sleep as much as she wants!
Size: 18 month and 18-24 month clothing, size 4 diapers. A lot of the 18 month pants are too big for her tiny little waist, but she needs them for the length. We usually have a lot of diaper hanging out the top!
Newest Accomplishments: talks non stop, repeats everything (over and over and over again!),feeds,rocks, bathes baby doll, puts everything to "nite nite",vocab over 100+ words, can almost sing all of the ABC's, counts to ten on her own, twelve teeth: 4 in front on top and bottom and a molar on each side top and bottom

Loves: to "rockee" and be "rockeed", "covers", coloring in color books with crayons "colors", "snuggles", gummy vitamins, princess vanity, ring around the "rosie", dog book, library story time, toddler bed at Mamaw and Grandpas house, baths with Ariel and baby, milkshakes, singing and dancing, Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle

Her verbal skills are pretty amazing for 18 months. I know I am her mother and think that everything she does is amazing, but I have been told by many other people, often strangers, how advanced she is verbally. I love to listen to her talk and read to her stuffed animals. She picks up on so much so quickly. It is sometimes kinda scary how observant she is! We need to watch what we say! She can say all of her friends names (to name a few: Ashlyn, Brynn, Beckett, Britton, Mia, Avery, Cole, Chase). She can identify and knows the sounds for: cow, horse, dog, cat, donkey, sheep, fish, duck, goose, chicken, bunny, zebra, elephant, alligator, pig, bear, penguin, owl, tiger, lion, snake.

A few things she says that sound alike are" "covers" and "colors", "bunny" and "Barney", "Murphy" and "movie".

She is just too darn cute!

A Letter to My Newest Love

Dearest Lemma (Luke or Emma),


I can't believe the day has finally arrived. We finally get to meet, face to face. I am so excited and overwhelmed and nervous! In a little over 12 hours I will get to hold you! The past 8 months since I discovered I was growing you have gone by so quickly. Your sister Ryan consumes most of my time and the months just flew by. We had a rough start, I felt terrible the first months. You took all of my energy and made me super nauseated all day! The middle months were pretty easy. I seemed to grow overnight and there was no denying that a precious baby had made me so ill. These last few weeks have been a little uncomfortable, but nothing that I wouldn't do over in a heartbeat. (Although I could do without the awful indigestion!) You have been a very active baby the whole pregnancy and I love every movement that I feel you make. Your daddy has gotten to feel you move so often when we lay down at night. Your sister Ryan pats and kisses you in my tummy. When we ask her if you are a Luke or an Emma she usually repeats whatever the second name is that we say. (Although I think that she has said Luke more often). Ryan has been practicing taking care of her baby doll and I think she will be a big help to me in caring for you. I cannot wait to see you two together. Your big sister is the coolest girl I know and you are so lucky to get to learn from and grow up with her!

I can't wait for you to change our lives and I feel so grateful that I get to be a mom a second time. Your daddy and I already love you so much and I know that love will just multiply tomorrow when we see you. I am going to try to lay down and get some sleep so I can be bright eyed in the morning when we meet. I love you Baby Ivie #2.



Love,

Mommy

A Letter To My Munch

Dear Munch,


I am writing you this letter with a lot of different emotions (and hormones!). I can't believe that you are already 18 months old. Where did the time go? Just when I think that you can't get any cuter or more fun you do. I keep telling my mom that I wish I could keep one of you at this age. She reminds me that I have said that about every age. I love watching you grow and learn but it all seems to change too quickly. You are only 18 months old, but I can list a bunch of things that I miss already. Each stage of your life is so amazing, but it also comes with change. And I don't like change. I hate for things to end. If I could have my way I would already have 18 of you (one at every month!). Since that is unrealistic I just have to cherish every stage and make a good effort to get lots of pictures and videos so I can always look back and remember.

I am typing this the night before I have your baby brother or sister. I just told you goodnight and bawled my eyes out. Because, although this will be a wonderful gift to you and to your daddy and me, it is also a change and an end of an era. We will be a family of four now, never again just the three of us. I have so loved that I have been able to completely focus on you and your needs these past 18 months. I can't imagine anything that I would rather spend my time doing. Starting tomorrow I will have two beautiful children to dedicate all of my love and time to. Does this mean that you will be loved any less, or have your needs put second.? Absolutely not! I will do everything I can to make sure that you still feel the same love and attention that you have in the past. We will all just grow more room in our hearts for the new baby. Including you! You will now have a constant companion, a playmate. Your sibling will make you a better person. You will learn to share and care and you will be my biggest helper. You have so much that you will be able to teach your sibling. You are so smart and this baby will have such an advantage because he/she has you to learn from. I am so excited to see you in your new role. Even though tomorrow you will become the "big" sister will always be my baby girl. The time that we have shared just the three of us as a family is priceless. Thank you for being who you are and showing me the power of love.

I will be thinking of you all the time we are away at the hospital. I know you will be in good hands and having fun with Aunt Mis and Mamaw and Grandpa. I can't wait to see your smiling face when you meet the baby. I love you little girl.



Love,

Mommy

"Tinkle Tinkle"

Fun Times With Daddy

Ryan is fun to rough house with! Chris has a good time with her! I love her giggle.

38 Weeks.....and ready!

Looking large and tired

We had our last doctor appointment Monday! It was wild to know that it was the last one! We had our last biophysical sonogram and the baby got another perfect 8/8. I made sure I ate so the baby would be active. The week before I hadn't eaten and the baby was in a deep sleep. The sono last week lasted over 30 minutes and I had to flip back and forth. It was uncomfortable! Eating lunch this week made the baby very active and the sono was short and painless. Dr. Rosenbaum once again said that this will be a big baby. She is delivering me a week and half early, but thinks this will still be an 8-9 lb baby. She feels very confident that a C-section Friday is the way to go!

So, we are all set for Friday. Chris and I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning and my surgery is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. So we should meet our baby by 9:00! I can't wait to find out if I have a Luke Austin or an Emma Reese inside me! Chris said that he thinks the baby is a boy after seeing the chubby cheeks in the sonogram. I am still leaning towards girl. We both really do not care either way. We just want to meet the baby!

I am a little nervous about the surgery. It is different this time knowing that I am having surgery on Friday. Last time the C-section was an emergency and in the middle of the night. I had been in labor all day and was so tired and it happened so quickly that I didn't have time to get nervous about it. This time I know what to expect. That is good and bad. It is a weird feeling to be wide awake while you are being cut open. I remember being able to see the reflection of my open abdomen in the bright light. Yuck! That was very scary. Thankfully, Chris was my rock and he helped me to stay calm. At one point, I couldn't stop shaking and crying. He reminded me how wonderful this experience was and that we were about to meet our baby and find out the sex. And it was so wonderful! And worth every scary and sore moment.

Thanks to all of our family and friends who have been checking on me these past few weeks. We cannot wait to introduce you to our newest family member and Ryan's sibling!

Fun With The Big Girls!

The three Crowley girls came and visited us! I just knew Ryan would be in heaven! She loves to hang out with older girls. I was also very happy to get to spend some time with my best friend from college Roxie. We mostly hung at the house and watched the kids play. Avery (4, almost 5) and Mia (3.5) gave Chris and I a sneak preview of what our life will be like in a few years! Wow! These two girls are so sweet and so well behaved, I just hope our two are! They are busy girls, but do a good job of entertaining each other. Being so pregnant watching these 3 girls play I wasn't sure I had enough energy for the job of mom of two! I hope I get some energy back soon, I am going to need it!

Three sweet peas!

Mia and Ryan giggling!

Ryan feeding her baby (and me)

Mia and Avery making good use out of Ryans big new room!

After feeding her baby Ryan "rockeed" her baby

Baby wanted her giraffe to "rockee for nite nite"

Tony got rocked too!

Sweet Avery is a mini me of her momma!

Rox reading to the girls

Animals!

Leaving breakfast hand in hand

(Grandpa following)

Maternity Pictures

Our first professional family photo of the FOUR of us!

Bunny made it in!

Ryan and her "Pa"

My dad starts a new job next Monday. For the first 18 months of Ryan's life she has been able to spend a ton of time with both her Mamaw and Grandpa who live only 3 miles away. It has been so great to have them both so close and so available to help. And just because my dad is returning to full time work does not mean she will not see him, it will just be more on the weekends and evenings. I will only be working 3 days a week, so our kids should only need to spend 1 day a week at my parents house. This means that Mamaw will have one day a week with both babies all to herself (scary to me- fun, fun, fun to her!)

Since I am down to the wire on preparing for baby number two, and my dad soon won't be able to steal Ryan away for a random Wednesday afternoon, he offered to take Ryan for a few hours of fun! I spent the 3.5 hours cleaning out a closet I used in Ryan's new room and moving her stuff into it so the new baby will have his/her closet open. It was a very productive afternoon for me!

Ryan and her Grandpa (whom she refers to as Pa) had a fun filled afternoon. Pa took her to McDonalds for a happy meal, Toys R Us for a new toy, the park, and then to Braums for a chocolate milkshake! Sounds like an afternoon in heaven for Ryan!

Ryan and Grandpa heading out

Ryan came home with a ketchup and chocolate milkshake covered face and all of this good stuff!A happy meal penguin toy and a new Ariel (her favorite princess) bath toy. Her hair is supposed to change color in the tub- we will try it out tonight! Ryan threw a little fit when she walked in the door. I think she knew that the fun was ending and a nap was about to be enforced.

It was a good day for all. Nothing beats one on one time with your Grandpa!

Dinner is Served.....

.......in the bathtub!

Ryan and I are getting to spend a lot of quality time together these past few days. And when Chris works an overtime shift we get a straight 48 hours of time together. (Mamaw and Grandpa usually "borrow" her for a few hours, which is good for both Ryan and Mommy!)

Little, sweet Ryan really knows what she wants and does not want these days, and has no problem letting it be known! At 9 months pregnant, and very large and awkward, I can only stand up to her for so long. I have also started to learn that I must pick my battles. She is as hard headed and determined as I am and if I don't choose wisely we will be in a never ending war!

So, that is why Ryan enjoyed her dinner in the tub. The girl was refusing to eat dinner and was fixated on taking a bath. She had also been constipated all day so I gave in and plopped her in the tub. She ended up eating AND pooping! She also ended up in a much better mood when it was all said and done. Totally worth it- even though I hate losing :)

Tuesday Library Story Time

Another bonus of being home with my favorite girl is that I get to take her to the weekly library story time! We have been the past two Tuesdays and it is so fun! My mom usually takes Ryan on the days when we are both at work and she has her for the day. I have always been envious when I hear about how much Ry enjoys it. Well, now I get to see it for myself! And since I am no longer going to be working full time (whoo hoo!) I will get to take her to many! We even tried to go to a Monday story time at the central library, but I forgot it was MLK day! Ryan really loves the library, so I will definitely try to get her to at least one a week. When she realizes that we are pulling into the parking lot she starts yelling "library!" "yay!" and she runs in! She has her own library card and she has a stamp card to keep track of how many times she attends story time and checks out books. We check out books every time and we stay for both the toddler and baby story times so her stamp card fills up fast!

Today the Tharp boys joined us, along with Mamaw! It was packed. I think there was at least 20 kids. Ryan loves to sit in the front and her favorite part is the parachute and the instruments. We sing songs and nursery rhymes, the teacher reads 3-4 books and after dancing and parachute Ry gets her hand and card stamped. It is too cute and she really knows the routine.

Here are a few pictures that I took with my IPhone.

Front row!

Britton and Beckett

(nap time was near!)

She loves it!

The Past 10 Days at Home in Pictures

Ten days down, and ten days to go until my world is changed (again) forever! I am really enjoying these 3 weeks with my girl. I haven't taken as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few from the past 10 days.

Ash and baby Knox came and hung out for an afternoon

Ryan was a little interested in Knox, and wanted to be in my lap when I held him

We have played a lot of baby dolls!

And Ryan likes to pretend to be the baby too!

Ryan and Chris came with me to the shower that my co-workers threw for me at work.

She looked too sweet in this dress for me not to post a picture of it.

Munch

We colored a lot ( me in my pajama pants!)

Lots of snuggle time.

She gets the brown blanket out and says "snuggles mama?"

It's the best!

Ryan has some serious dance moves.

She put on a little show for us one evening!
Video is needed to give it justice, but this is all we got.

Cheer For Me Potty!

We decided to open up the training potty this past week. Just to start "playing" with it and to put Ryan's bathtub baby doll on it. After every bath we have to squirt the water out of her doll so she doesn't mold and it is a perfect way to demonstrate her baby "going tinkle on the potty". This little training potty is so darn cute! It sings a cute little song whenever anything hits the bottom sensors. The little purple handle is for toilet paper and it has a flusher too! And rest assured that it is not still in our living room as the pictures below show it. We moved it into her bathroom after we opened it up and played with it. She shows some interest in it, but mostly with putting her baby on it. I am by no means trying to potty train her right now, especially with the new baby about to arrive. My goal is to have her potty trained by 2 years, so we have a little over 6 months to get there. For now we will play!