What's In A Name??

Oh, and did I mention we chose a name that we are both in love with?? 

Little Miss. Avery Anne Mills is due to arrive just before Thanksgiving! There is no better time, either... what a glorious thing to be thankful for!

Baby Girl

For those of you who are pregnant or have ever been pregnant, you are going to understand this feeling... I have NO BRAIN! My already mostly useless mother-brain is more fried than usual due to the life growing inside me. I asked Cullen the other day about the differences in Noah and #2's pregnancy. It surprised me a bit that he had an answer. He said, with Noah I always wanted Vietnamese food. With this one, nothing sounds good. With this one, I am extremely indecisive. I wasn't that way with Noah.

Well, now that we know that Baby is a girl, we get to do the fun things, like decorate her room and buy fun clothes. However, I have found that from the second I decide on something through the second I go to buy it... I have a change of heart no less than 14 times. I hate it. I know roughly what I want. That never changes. But the ideas change regularly. 

WELL, not any more my friends. Our little stinker slept over at his Coco's house last night. Cullen and I took full advantage and hit up a few stores to see if we could make some headway on Baby girl's room. 

NO.STINKING.LUCK.

When we got home, I had a minor meltdown. I know that we have a while until she is born. However, it is our goal to have MOST things done before I go back to school. I get VERY busy during the fall/school year. It will just be easier/less stressful to have a bit of this done!

With a deep breath and calmer nerves I searched the internet for a crib and found one almost instantly. It is SO VERY DIFFERENT than what I had been looking for and I LOVE IT. 

We also decided to base the room around two prints we found at Hobby Lobby. They are bright, cheery and very colorful. They are girly without being baby. They will be easy prints to transition from baby room to little girl room. 

AAHHH..... I am capable of making decisions. That is nice to know. And, without further ado, here is our crib and our prints. Now that I have made this a well known decision, maybe I won't change my mind.... again.

Our colorful piece #1

Our colorful piece #2. IN LOVE.

Our Crib. It is convertible. It is wavy, and different - and I love it.

22 Weeks...

How far along? 22 Weeks today.
 
Total weight gain: Ugh... 7 pounds total. Yes, I know. Roll your eyes even. But, from 1 pound to 7 pounds is a BIG leap. However, I am still very happy with this.
 
Maternity clothes? Maternity pants, and getting to the point that I need the length of the maternity tops. Regular dresses.
 
Stretch marks? No new ones! ;)
 
Sleep: Second trimester is delightful. I sleep all the way through the night again.
 
Best moment this week: Hearing our nugget's heartbeat today.
 
Miss anything? I've had a few desires for a margarita... but, I can quickly move on without getting too caught up in the moment.
 
Movement: At night, constantly. As of the last two or three days, I have felt her move during the day. I love it every time. I love it more and more every time. Cullen can feel her move now too.
 
Food cravings: NONE. That is the problem. NOTHING sounds good, ever. I am the worst friend (daughter, wife, friend, ... whatever hat I am wearing) to help make decisions about what to eat for lunch or dinner. 
 
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing.
 
Gender: Yes!!!!! It is a GIRL. This news was so wonderful to hear. Her name will be Miss. Avery Anne Mills.
 
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness!!
 
Symptoms: None right now. Positively glowing.
 
Belly Button in or out? In...It stayed that way with Noah. I think it will stay that way with her!
 
Wedding rings on or off? On
 
Happy or Moody most of the time: Blissfully Happy!
 
Looking forward to: Noah continuing to kiss my belly and refer to her as "my Avery.".

Mommy - 1, Noah - 0.

Here is a true-mother post. I will admit it, we rock at certain parts of parenting. We have a very helpful, happy, well-mannered baby. He is independent and kind. He is empathetic and strong-willed.

One area we are total failures as parents is bedtime routine. While we DO have a routine, it is not a good one. It is consistent... brush teeth, sit with parent and rock, lay in bed until said baby falls asleep, sneak out without breathing in hopes you do not wake the monster. BUT, it is not a good routine. It takes every bit of an hour total.

We have recently gone on vacation with our dear friends, The Durbins, where it literally takes them 10 minutes (read book included) to put their little one down. We also recently went to visit our cousins in Runaway Bay, The Smalleys, where they too, take less than 10 minutes to put their little one down. TOTAL FAILURE.

What did we do?? Decide it was time for a change. We have decided it is time for Noah to learn to put himself to sleep. We are on a modified schedule from the above. We are sitting and rocking, and talking about bedtime routine. One of us will go lay with him for about 5-10 minutes, tell him "night night", and leave. (I am also doing this for nap time too, since I am home for summer break.)

He has fought us tooth-and-nail. He has cried...wailed. It has been terrible, but each night is a bit less dramatic and each night is a little less time consuming. Well, my friends, today was our breakthrough.

For the first time, I laid down with him, talked about our plan for the afternoon, gave him about 5 minutes, gave him hugs and walked out. He got up. I can hear him playing, but he never cried. He knocked on his door for a second, but ZERO tears.

I will call this one a HUGE success. WOOOOOO. Let's see if we can do this again tonight with such success.

It's A ....

Since July 5th, the fate of our baby's gender has been sitting in an envelope in my purse.

On July 15th, we woke up early, prepared for a photo shoot and a gender reveal party with our parents and Noah. I think we were all hoping for pink... Everyone got their wish.

We are proud, excited, and nervous to welcome our sweet GIRL into the family late November.

Here is a picture from the reveal. It is one of three that we have seen. I know the rest will be spectacular.

Update From Our Appointment

Cullen and I had our baby anatomy appointment on Thursday. Before we get into the good business, I must say... As planned, I started our conversation with the Ultrasound Tech by telling her we do not want to know the gender of our baby. We want her to write it down and we will open it later... and, as planned, we stuck with our plan - regardless of temptation.

Onto the real appointment. The appointment was wonderful. We saw all organs, two hemispheres in the brain, four chambers in the heart, two hands, two feet, legs, arms, and a precious face!

I couldn't be happier. I could not be more relieved at the good news we received. And, while we haven't confirmed with the radiologist or OB that our baby is 100% healthy, I feel so good about it. I feel happy and confident that God has blessed us with another very healthy baby.

The REAL update will be posted next week. We will reveal our baby's gender Sunday. AAAHHHH. Less than a week.

Today Is The BIG Day

Today is our BIG day. This morning, Cullen and I go to the doctor to learn about our baby. It is our big anatomy appointment. We will confirm that everything is right with our baby. We get to count arms and legs, toes and fingers, a heart, lungs, kidneys, other major organs.

When we went with Noah, this appointment was very different. We went in more excited to know WHAT our baby was, instead of what was important - the health of our baby. It is so neat to go into this appointment not concerned about the gender. In my mind, we are going into this appointment wide-eyed for the correct reasons.

However, we will know what our baby is... July 15th. My parents are out of the country until then. We have something big planned and we want both sets of parents there.

I prayed for a long time last night that God steadies the hands of our ultrasound tech, that God wraps himself around our room, my womb, my little nugget and Cullen and I today. I prayed extra hard for a very healthy baby, who is developing right on track. I prayed that Noah's future brother/sister is half-way to making their perfect entrance into this world.

So, today is our big day. Today, we get to see our little nugget. Today we get to spend an hour making sure all is well. Today is our BIG day.

He is So Special...

Brodie. My dear Brodie. If you have ever met this special dog, you know he is “special”. It has been quite a saga around here with that sweet, lovable, mutt! 

Here is the quick back story: So, on Saturday, we went to Hutto for our annual 4^th of July bash. When we got home Sunday morning, we noticed that Brodie was acting a bit lethargic. He was timid and uncomfortable. He was just not too normal…especially for him. We pampered him a bit, and headed out to Arlington for the day.  On Monday, he was still acting strange, but seemed a bit better. Then, he jumped off the bed and winced and refused to move much after that.

I place a panic call to a girlfriend of mine who works at the local vet clinic. She said to bring him in and I was there in no time. After a brief hour wait, I was able to see the vet. He examines Brodie and decides it is one of two things. Brodie either has bladder stones {which will need surgery to fix} or he has a hurt back {no surgery, but pretty painful}.  He decides to give Brodie X-Rays.  Another brief hour wait… the doctor calls ME back to the X-Ray room to see the results. Everything in my heart sinks. {Inner thought: If I am being called back, this has to be bad}. The doctor tells me that he does NOT have bladder stones, that he does indeed have a hurt back. Here is why… the doctor starts the conversation with, “Brodie is…very… special.” {Inner thought: Yes, thank you. This is not new information, but it is still a gut punch when your doctor tells you that your first child dog is “special”.} It turns out that {probably due to inbreeding} Brodie has extra vertebrae. Dogs SHOULD have 7; Brodie has 8. The extra vertebra is causing the others to compress and be uncomfortable. To add to that, he also is bow-legged and (in the doctor’s words) has stilts for legs. He said, “hands down, top 3 most “special” Boston Terrier he has met. They don’t get much more unique than this dog”. 

So, what is the verdict? I was able to take him home after a shot of morphine and a shot of steroids. He was high all afternoon yesterday. He slept in a drug-induced coma yesterday. He was wobbly, and, well… stoned out of his mind. He is WORLDS better this morning. He was able to shake his head. He took his medicine with the help of my little Buddy this morning. He was walking a bit faster. Let’s see how he gets after his pain killers kick in this morning. For now, he is on pain killers and steroids. He is also on anti-inflammatories  indefinitely.

I know this is really only a comical story if you know Brodie. The doctor told us NOTHING new. I went in to the vet knowing he was a special-ed dog. I knew he has strange extremities. I know God loves him a bit extra… but, it was still a bit of a gut-punch to have all of those known thoughts confirmed.

Yep, that is my dog. 

My Brodie Man